Sadly three of Saturday’s hockey fixtures fell victim to the weather, with the Ladies Firsts game against Devizes, the Ladies Seconds game against Nailsea and the Men’s Seconds game against Mid-Somerset all postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. It fell to the Men’s Firsts and Ladies Thirds to brighten an otherwise dreary weekend.
In absolutely atrocious wet and windy conditions at the University of Bath sports village another supremely valiant effort was rewarded with a valuable point against the high-flying Buccaneers and yet Mendip came away at the end feeling like it was perhaps an opportunity missed to have stolen all three.
It was a thrilling encounter from the start, with the hosts being very much the aggressors and Mendip defending their lines with a steely conviction. With the defence fully occupied, it was down to the midfield to work their way into the game and when they finally came to life with Will Holmes stealing the ball and setting off down the right, a good counter-attacking move involving the front two of John Lippiatt and Steve Smith ended by going narrowly wide.
The home defence was also a formidable unit and the Mendip forwards had a tough time breaking them down, so the play systematically moved from one end of the pitch to the other as both sides probed for the all-important opening.
As the game progressed, Buccs began to wrestle control and dominate in attack and it was a totally absorbing first half, with the hosts trying to press home their advantage and with Mendip simply refusing to yield. Buccs won a number of free hits in and around the D from which they were able to fire off several strong shots on target, but Leigh Taylor in the Mendip goal was equal to them and made some excellent saves, going into the half-time break at 0–0.
In the second half, Buccs appeared to change their formation and played even higher up the pitch and although that increased their attacking threat further, it opened up the midfield for Mendip to launch more meaningful attacks.
Afforded some much welcomed respite, the Mendip defence were keen to get involved and started to confidently move the ball across their back line to switch the play, creating more and more chances to get forward. However, when the moves did break down they were soon knocking on the door again and with increased pressure the errors started to creep in and Mendip conceded a number of short corners.
Now with the match finely balanced and with Mendip under intense scrutiny, the man mountain that is Leigh Taylor came to the rescue as time after time shots rained in on him from every angle and each time he pulled off magnificent reflex saves. It was a mesmerising display of goal keeping and his heroics earned him a unanimous man-of-the match vote from every squad member and but for him the score-line may have even been double figures.
With less than a quarter left Will Lawton picked up the ball in midfield and danced his way through the opposition into the D where he unleashed a well-placed shot into the corner to put the visitors into the lead with a wonderful solo goal.
Following the goal, Buccs continued to press and were unlucky when a shot struck the post, but when it did finally arrive, their equaliser was a rather scrappy affair. Mendip battled gamely right to the end and their herculean endeavours were nearly rewarded when a gilt-edged opportunity presented itself with only a few minutes remaining, but the veteran skipper was not able to claim the glory as he arrived a fraction too late and Chris Hampshire’s exquisite cross fizzed past his out-stretched stick merely inches from the goal line and their last chance went begging.
On the balance of play, it would obviously be churlish to say that Mendip deserved to win, but they did have their fair share of chances and with such a monumental effort from the whole squad, they dared to dream what might have been.
This Saturday Mendip invite table-topping Westbury and United Banks ‘A’ to Norton Hill School for a 12 noon start.