Neston Hockey 0-1 Brooklands

Jan 20 2010 by Our Correspondent, Birkenhead News

THE North West League title race was blown wide open at the weekend as leaders Neston South Wirral suffered a 1-0 reverse at home to an experienced Brooklands side.

With talented young defender, Tom McCurdy, having signed for National League club Deeside during the winter break, Neston were forced to reshuffle their team, with Rogier Van Der Ouderaa dropping back to join Greg Brooker at the heart of the defence.

The recent bad weather has denied both sides valuable training time and the opening exchanges were cagey as the teams tried to find their feet. Brooklands set their stall out to defend deep and hit the home team on the break, and whilst Neston were patient in their build up, they struggled to break down the solid visiting back line in the first half.

Neston showed a little more urgency after the interval, with Mark Donnelly constantly probing the Brooklands defence, but chances were still hard to come by.

Meanwhile, the Neston rearguard generally kept the visitors at arms length, although Paul Shepherd was forced into a couple of smart saves when they did breakthrough.

It looked like it was heading for a draw when a Brooklands striker found space in the circle and forced the ball over the line.

Neston fought desperately to salvage something in the dying moments, but Rob Cookson and new signing, Bobby Edwards, were denied by the Brooklands keeper.

This Saturday, Neston have a tough assignment at second placed Bebington.

GREG BROOKER