Hockey: Alderley Edge men's clean sweep

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Alderley Edge men's hockey section had a perfect weekend, winning all six of their fixtures, three of which were against local rivals Bowdon.

The men's first team were at home in North Premier League, hosting Bowdon.

Alderley started well and were soon putting pressure on the Bowdon defence. The first clear opportunity came when Sam Gregory was set free, his pass found Adam Wildig but his shot drifted narrowly wide. It was then Bowdon's turn to get on the front foot, Riley saved smartly from a penalty corner and in quick succession along with Jackson and Whitehead averted any other danger.

Alderley Edge took the lead from the unlikeliest source, full back Raj Kay getting his first for the club, linking well with Gregory up the right wing and as the return pass came in he managed to squeeze his shot under the 'keeper. The rest of the half was relatively even with no gilt edged chances for either team but with the Bowdon defence and 'keeper kept the busier of the two teams.

Alderley Edge needed to keep the work rate high, Andy Williams along with Joe Gregory tried to keep the team attacking and James Warburton in a deeper role ensured the wingers kept going forward. Bowdon were continuing to press throughout the second half and they soon equalised as they found space in the D to provide an easy finish at the back post.

This seemed to reinvigorate Alderley as they started to link better on the left, but Bowdon defended sternly and the game opened up with both sides pushing hard to grab the go ahead goal. It was Alderley who retook the lead, Wildig won the ball and broke towards goal and found himself sandwiched between 'keeper and defender and then felled, a penalty stroke resulted. Warburton calmly slotted home.

Soon it was 3-1 as Alderley won their first (and only) penalty corner, Tim Pont rifled home his 7th set piece of the season.

Bowdon pressed high to try to force an error, this gave Alderley space up front and despite the strong runs of Coxon and Drummond they were not able to add to their advantage. With a couple of minutes to go Bowdon made it 3-2 when a free hit was deflected in at close range but Alderley held out to take all three points and move up the table, leapfrogging their opponents.

The seconds were away at Bowdon and had the upper hand throughout, managing to negate their opponent's long ball tactics with solid defending. Alderley Edge ran out 3-0 winners converting two penalty corners through Chris Hardy and Sam Baker. Oli Wildig rounded off the scoring intercepting a pass in the Bowdon defence before beating the 'keeper.

A much changed 3rd team made it nine wins from nine, with the average age down from 27 to 22, fluency was difficult and they were indebted to 'keeper James Bateman who picked up man of the match. 14 year old debutant Callum Middleton proved to be the match winner as he scored the games' only goal, South Cheshire were the opponents.

The fourth team raced to a 2-0 lead against a depleted Bowdon, they kept up the momentum as the visitors returned to full strength to complete a resounding 5-2 victory. The 6th team had a ding dong victory against Timperley, running out 7-5 victors with Louis Godfrey grabbing four.

Match report by James Riley.

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Hockey
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