Hockey: Oxton overcome injuries to reach the summit with victory at Hull

Oct 7 2009 by Our Correspondent, Birkenhead News

OXTON Hockey Club men’s first team travelled to Hull on Saturday for their second away trip on their league campaign.

In the shadows of the KC Stadium, the first half was played in gale force winds and driving rain and while Oxton dominated for long periods they couldn’t convert this into goals. They were unfortunate to lose experienced defender Nik Neyes after 20 minutes but on the stroke of half time Oxton went 1-0 ahead when youngster Joe Hillyer poked the ball home after a goalmouth scramble.

Hull started the second half much sharper and Oxton soon lost skipper Moore to injury but continued to defend well and kept their goal in tact. After 60 minutes nerves were calmed when a cool strike by another youngster, Callum McDougall, which gave the Hull keeper no chance. This was an excellent team performance and Oxton moved to the top of the league with a home game against Timperley to come this Saturday.

The men’s second team suffered their second defeat of the season going down 3-2 to Liverpool University first. Phil Kirkby and Rich Gibson with the goals in a close and lively encounter. A hat-trick from Will Jobes couldn’t prevent the third team losing to Triton firsts 4-3, while there were wins for the fifth and sixth teams. The seventh team drew 1-1 with Sale’s thirds.

The ladies first team registered their first win of the season with an emphatic 8-0 against Marple. Liz Farren (4), Jo Girven (2), Beccy Davis and Ann Weston were the scorers. The seconds continued their losing streak as did the thirds and fourths.