By Andy Davis

WEST HOCKEY LEAGUE – MEN’S PIRAN DIVISION ONE

Ocean City Thirds 3 Bude 3

BUDE’S hopes of promotion will have to wait another year as they were held to a 3-3 draw in Plymouth, although results elsewhere made the scoreline irrelevant anyway.

Nevertheless, they still served up a classic game of two halves as Ocean City got off to a rapid and dream start scoring after just five minutes as their striker went on a solo run down the right wing and then managed to traverse across the whole D, evading all that tried to go near him before sending a low, hard shot straight through the keeper’s legs.

He soon doubled the lead as he outpaced the Bude defence and made no mistake with an early strong reverse strike.

Bude then reshuffled their formation to bring a sweeper back to bolster the back line which worked well, but did limit the options further up the field. 

With further pressure it then became 3-0 as Ocean City scored from a well-worked penalty corner.

But as they rolled their extensive number of subs, this gave Bude hope as they inadvertently took their foot off the gas.

With the first half coming to a close, Bude got the break they needed from a penalty corner routine as the ball was injected by Tom Lush to Kristof Saunders at the top who sent it straight back towards the goal where Lush popped up and deftly deflected the ball with a perfect reverse stick. 

Things then escalated to a whole new level.

With Bude still pressing, an innocuous chance in the Ocean City goal mouth erupted into a massive flare-up

after the home goalkeeper kicked a Seasiders player in the back. No cards were handed out, but it stoked the fire in the Bude boys’ bellies as they seeked to end an encouraging campaign with three points.

The visitors had got an essential and vital foothold in the game which would spur them on as they now wanted to restore some pride and passion into their play.

A feisty second half saw the umpires struggle to keep control of the game.

Bude were a truly completely different side in the second half as every person elevated their game showing why they are a force and title contenders, battling for every ball and passing their subdued opponents off the park as the chances came thick and fast. 

Midway through the half Bude closed the gap to a single goal as Charlie Falla made a nice midfield run and found man of the match Thomas Hall who was relishing the physical battle up front as he managed to out-muscle his defender to work the space for a hard, low shot that went into the bottom corner. 

Hall then got the goal of the game as Falla was on hand to assist from midfield again with another pinpoint pass to Hall who expertly controlled the ball on the edge of D and spun back around to his reverse side and creamed the ball into the far corner. 

A hatful of really good chances came for Bude as the spoils were shared; the news then filtered in that Bodmin had been crowned champions and Plymouth Marjon had been relegated along with Bodmin Seconds.

After so much hope, this result coupled with meant Bude slipped to a disappointing third in the final standings behind Camborne School of Mines by a point, which leaves them with so many ifs, buts and maybes as they missed out on a much-wanted promotion once more.