Aldershot & Farnham 2, Wanderers II 4

A POOR second half and uncharacteristically poor discipline was to blame for Aldershot & Farnham’s home defeat to Wanderers second last Saturday.

After an encouraging start in which they won an early short corner, A&F were soon in trouble. With their first attack, Wanderers got into a threatening position in the D and Andrew Simmons dived in, earning himself a ten-minute spell in the sin bin while also conceding a penalty stroke that was clinically dispatched into the roof of the net.

A&F coped well with ten men and put together some decent attacks, winning a couple of short corners in the process. Unfortunately, their routines were off colour and they missed their opportunities from set plays.

Luke Powell produced some tenacious work high up on the left to feed the ball to Joe Whelan at the top left of the circle. Whelan’s snap shot was fired into the far corner for the equaliser.

But Wanderers restored their lead just before the break with a drag-flicked short corner.

A&F had certainly played well enough in the first half to believe they could win the game but in the second half their hockey was unrecognisable. They started carrying the ball too far, not giving the simple pass, and their discipline let them down.

Frustrations with the umpire and dissent from Powell and Jonny Groves meant they were both shown yellow cards, while Jonny Thompson received a green card for a clumsy challenge, meaning A&F spent more than half the game with ten men.

The number of first-phase turnovers by A&F played into the visitors’ hands as they extended their lead to 3-1 with a well-worked goal and strike.

A&F then forced a short corner, but the ball wasn’t stopped and went clean through to a Wanderers player who broke before crossing the ball for their forward to volley in for a 4-1 lead.

Ian Metcalfe scored a consolation goal, turning a ball in after fine work and a cross in from the left by Sam Fuentes Moreno.

Aldershot & Farnham: Walker, Simmons, Weston, E Rushmere, Jervis, Thompson, P Rushmere, Whelan, Metcalfe, Groves, Powell, Hammond, Fuentes Moreno.