Wilmslow 6 Doncaster 2nd 3

WILMSLOW Hockey Club’s men welcomed newly-promoted Doncaster to Oakwood Farm for the first game of the season in North Division One.

Doncaster won and converted a short corner high into the net in the third minute.

This sparked Wilmslow into life and the Oranges started to dominate the game.

Five minutes after going behind, Wilmslow were level as Steve Edmonds sneaked in at the back post to finish a great passing move.

Before half time, Edmonds crashed the ball high past the Doncaster keeper for his second, before David Boddy prodded the ball under the keeper after great work from Martin Wright and Tom Davenport.

Within five minutes of the interval Wilmslow were 5-1 up, with Andy Hunt scoring two close-range finishes at the end of slick passing moves starting in the defence.

Wilmslow’s focus waned slightly and they let Doncaster back into the match, with two successive goals.

However, man of the match Cameron Armstrong set up debutant Joe Booth who calmly took the ball around the keeper and lifted it into the net to finish the game.

Another accomplished performance came from Fabio Stubbs, newly promoted from the junior ranks.

This was a good win for Wilmslow, and highlighted some areas for improvement for the rest of the season as the Oranges look to finish the season how they have started it – at the top of the league.

In the other men’s matches the 2nds lost a close encounter 1-2 away to Timperley 2s. The 3rds had a good win 5-2 away to Neston as did the 5ths 4-1 winners at Urmston. The 4ths came unstuck against an experienced Crewe Vagrants 2nd team 1-5