Gwent 4 Penarth 5

Match Report – Saturday 7th September

Gwent 4 Penarth 5

Saturday saw the launch of a new era for Penarth Hockey Club 1st XI under the new skipper Mark ‘Jonty’ Thomas.
Faced with a difficult away game at a resurgent Gwent, Penarth were forced, due to the perennial early season availability problems, to field a side made up of first team regulars plus players from the 2nd and Veterans teams.

It was with some degree of surprise therefore that Penarth raced in to a 3-0 half time lead with goals from Phil Lane (2) and Sam Wooding.

Skipper Thomas’s half time assertion that he would settle for a 4-4 draw, provided the side continued to gel, nearly proved prophetic as Gwent pulled the score back to 3-2 and, following Phil Lane’s hat trick, Gwent levelled the score at 4-4.

With time running out and a dominant Gwent pressing for a winner, new player Tom Harris found himself on the end of a Penarth breakout to seal a hard fought 5-4 win.

Post match discussions focussed on the need to improve overall fitness as it is\likely many of the league games facing Penarth will be settled similarly late in the game.

Penarth 1st XIs next fixture is on Saturday 14th September when they face Cardiff Medics away hoping to welcome back many 1st XI regulars