Men's 1st XI vs South Berkshire 1

Winchester’s four week winning streak came to an end at the hands of South Berkshire and three excellent goals.

It appeared at first that the home team’s recent form was continuing with Will Leyland, once again, a constant threat down the right wing and Kieran Molloy cracking a shot just past the post. This paid off as they went into a ten minute lead from a Ben Hibberd penalty corner. 

The second quarter saw a change in momentum as South Berkshire found some rhythm just as Winchester’s started to fade. The visitor’s patience and passing accuracy was rewarded with perhaps a fifty pass move that ended with the ball in the net for an equaliser. By contrast, Winchester’s momentum was still largely intact, but punctuated by misplaced passes at critical moments. 

Into the third quarter and Winchester were subjected to a number of penalty corners, one of which resulted in a disallowed goal and another which forced a stunning save away to his right from keeper Seb Eaton.

The final quarter produced the bulk of the goals. Winchester initially retook the lead with a beautifully worked goal starting with Ed Bulstrode deep in the right back position, moved on first time by Matt Richman up the wing to the sprinting Ben Hibberd who drove into the “D” and swept across to Ben Anthony to finish beautifully. The lead was short-lived as South Berkshire’s heavily marked Marcus Longfield took the ball with his back to the Winchester goal, pivoted round his man and found the corner of the net.

With five minutes remaining, the visitors, who had found a good deal of success down their left flank, did so once again, weaving in along the line and finding Chris Badger to slide home the winner.