Witney 1st XI 2 - 0 Winchester 1st XI

Winchester made the trip to Witney looking to make it seven wins from seven. 

Winchester took time to settle due to an exceptionally slow, sandy pitch making for hard to play the usual style of hockey. Frustrating though it was, Winchester caused the Witney defence some trouble and were unfortunate to not convert any of the early-awarded penalty corners. 

The second half continued much the same. Witney’s persistence finally paid off mid-way through the half, converting from close range. A string of fine saves, including one at point-blank range, showed some resilience from young keeper Seb Eaton. 

Winchester knew they had to push on as the game neared its close, leaving the defence exposed. This led to a second and final goal from Witney to give the unexpected three points. 

Saturday sees Winchester play Oxford Hawks 2 at home.

Winchester Wanderers 1 vs Epsom Vagabonds 2

This week Winchester hosted Epsom.  The two sides had different approaches to the game. Epsom decided to sit back with a half-court press and try to attack on the counter, while Winchester stuck with their elegant structured passing game. Winchester created some great moves down the flanks while the defence were keeping a lid on the very rapid attacks from the opposition.  Then Epsom had a stroke of luck.  A shot rebounded off the frame of the goal straight to their striker to slot into the open goal.
Winchester redoubled their efforts down the flanks, resulting in a period of sustained pressure around the Epsom goal. Eventually, the pressure told and Bob Menlove found himself free with the ball in front of the Epsom goal. Half-time and a fair position of 1-1.
The second half started off as the first had finished with Epsom under a lot of pressure.  Epsom abandoned the half-court press and switched to a game much higher up the pitch. The game remained even but with fifteen minutes left, both sides started to tire and the play became more ragged. That led to a series of short corners for both teams, until Epsom again profited from some luck, and a badly directed push out on a short corner suddenly opened up the near post of the goal and the Epsom player took his chance well.
Winchester will be disappointed that they lost but heartened by the quality of their play and sticking to their elegant passing game.