Hockey round-up: Welwyn Garden City's men win at Letchworth

A solitary goal from Bryn Evans gave the Hertfordshire Sports Village-based club a 1-0 in Division Two South West, ending a sequence of five wins and two draws for the home club and knocking them off the top spot.

The game started how Welwyn thought it would, with Letchworth having a lot of the possession, but they found it difficult to break through the visitors thanks to brilliant marking by the midfield of Evans, Mark Skilbeck and Nick Reilly.

When Letchworth did get past the midfield ranks, the WGC defence stood strong, with great tackles by Rob Sansom, James Lutrario, Pete Mullens and Stuart Stephens.

The away side also looked dangerous on the counter, with moves down both the right and left flanks with Matt O'Connell and Paul Marchant.

They were then feeding the ball to Nate Last who caused the Letchworth defence trouble every time he got the ball.

The first corner of the game went to Welwyn but was saved and Letchworth responded with corners of their own, although these two were superbly dealt with by keeper Dan Klinger.

The goal came after some patient play by Welwyn.

Sansom went on a driving run out of defence only to win a short corner after being shoved over.

Evans finished that off and the rest of the half was about Welwyn frustrating Letchworth with their dogged defence.

The talk at half-time centred on the fact that the pressure in the first period was just the starter, and the main course was about to come.

No substitutes made life harder for Welwyn and the half was more of the same with Letchworth hoping to move and tire the Welwyn players and force a mistake.

They found an almost impenetrable midfield and defence in their way and the odd time they did get through, Klinger was off his line quickly to repel the danger.

At the other end Last almost finished off a mazy run by Mark Skilbeck but that shot was saved, while another attempt from Mullens whistled past the post.

But the clock kept ticking and more staunch defence kept Letchworth out, even with a couple of penalty corners.

A spokesman for the team said: "This was a brilliant defensive team performance by Welwyn.

"Some may have said it was too negative but we saw it as brilliant tactics against a strong team."

WGC, who are now seventh, host Luton Town on Saturday.

WGC Hockey Club's seconds. Picture: RICHARD ELLIS (Image: Richard Ellis)

There was only one other win elsewhere in the club, the ladies' fourth team beating also beating Letchworth, that one 2-1, although the seconds did get a 0-0 draw at home to Stevenage in the battle of the top two in Division Four South West, each side keeping their unbeaten record.

The firsts lost 5-0 to Shefford & Sandy.