Men's 1st XI Vs Shepton Mallet [League]

Duchy & Shepton in Eleven-Goal Thriller

Seldom does a match hold the attention for so long. This was hockey at it’s ridiculous entertaining best - A first half which was tight and tense, a second half which ebbed and flowed as the teams attacked and counter attacked and shared nine goals.

Make no mistake, this wasn’t one for the defence coaches – Three of Duchy’s goals came from Shepton errors, whilst three Shepton responses were as a direct result of Duchy scoring and then immediately switching off and conceding at the other end: The match ended with five goals in the space of nine minutes.

Compared to the chaos of the second period, the first could easily be overlooked; however, four gilt-edged chances in the first ten minutes – two for each side – signalled what was to come. As it turned out, it took sixteen minutes for the deadlock to be broken with Justin Churchill picking up the ball on the right wing before driving to the baseline and pulling a cross back across the circle for Alex Roberts to strike home for 1-0. Both goalkeepers were tested repeatedly as the half wore on, with Toby Walker making two excellent saves to keep Duchy ahead, and with seconds remaining until the interval a moment of brilliance from Ben Russell at the edge of the circle resulted in a killer pass to Churchill who deflected home for 2-0.

Half time, 2-0, and Duchy in control. Then came the perfect start to the second half for the hosts – a penalty corner and 3-0, with Tom Blewett smashing a shot across goal for Alfie Budge to bundle home from less than a yard.

Game over? Not by a long shot – Duchy switched off, Shepton won a penalty corner straight from the restart and Joe Campbell-Orde roofed one for 3-1. Three minutes later and the visitors struck again – With Duchy pressing for a fourth, Shepton countered and the pace of Campbell-Orde beat the home defence before a neat finish for 3-2, and suddenly the home side were on the ropes.

Fortunately, Duchy steadied the ship and retained possession well for the next ten minutes, during which Stu Barbery smashed home a penalty corner to restore a two-goal cushion at 4-2; however complacency once again set in and with 13 minutes to play an aerial from the Shepton defence was picked up by Campbell-Orde who again beat his man to fire home and claim a hat-trick.

This time it was the visitors who had a lapse in concentration – shortly after the restart the Shepton ‘keeper looked to pick out a defender with a clearance only for Martyn Head to catch the Shepton man napping and play a simple pass to Churchill who set up Barbery for his second and 5-3.  Cue more crazy defending from Duchy. In less than a minute the score was 5-4 as another lightning counter from Shepton saw Joe Osbourne pass the ball into the net; and once again the hosts looked to be hanging on.

A raft of substitutions from Duchy did the job of settling the game down and when Churchill bagged his second with six minutes remaining for 6-4, Shepton finally looked like a beaten side. The points were confirmed moments later when Barbery claimed the second hat-trick of the match with another penalty corner – albeit via a huge deflection – to take the lead, and final score, to 7-4.

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Duchy | 7 | Alex Roberts 16f; Justin Churchill 34f, 64f; Alfie Budge 39pc; Stuart Barbery 50pc, 59f, 66pc

Shepton Mallet | 4 | Joe Campbell-Orde 40pc, 43f, 57f; Joe Osbourne 60f