Starting a little later than planned, the game for Wrexham was a must win to keep the title chances alive. Neston came off a big win the week before and Wrexham knew to start off strong. High pressure from the whole of the Wrexham team saw lovely passages of play passing, moving and shooting. We won some penalty corners from lovely work from the attackers and Kyle Preston’s drag flicks were stopped well from Neston’s goalkeeper and resolute defending. We were unlucky to not get many goals. But as the ball bobbled around the area from another attack, Nathan Samuels found himself alone at the back post to rifle in a shot with no mercy top left corner.

With this, Neston found their feet and started playing some attacking hockey. Their youngsters were able to control big hits from the back and get round our defence. On a counter Neston got a couple of very good chances but for brick wall defending and Robbie Bell pulling some quality saves yet again. Wrexham heads started to wobble and our discipline was marked by the umpires. A green card was displayed to Frank Watson and a penalty corner given for a foul outside the D. With a little passing around at the short Neston found a goal. 1-1 at the break.

Promising signs for Wrexham and from the whistle Wrexham went again finding spaces around the wide areas. The transition play practised in training came up trumps as it worked into a tomahawked shot from Kyle P, striking the left post and falling to that man Nathan S again to lift over stick and keeper for a second. A third came in swiftly as Gaz Roberts substituted in as a lone striker with his back to goal turned one then the other to sweetly strike into the right side netting.

Neston with their backs to the wall saw a few opportunities from their big hitters at the back. One ball beat all our midfield and landed at their strikers feet. He turned our defence and found himself one on one with our keeper. After Robbie tried to take the ball with his stick it bounced kindly back to the attacker and he slid in for a comfortable finish.

Wrexham were rattled. An accumulation from the whole team for some sportsmanship meant Damon Smith and Simon Samuels each unfortunately got a green card but Wrexham battled well and didn’t lose any goals with men off the pitch. To seal the game, Kyle Preston took the ball past one, two, three and four of the tiring Neston defenders and slotted home for our fourth. Game sealed. 4-2. Very competitive match and some very good hockey on display yet again. Nathan S for his two goals got MOTM but in all likelihood it could have been anyones for such a big team effort. DOD goes to Mark Wildbore for forgetting his stick and not doing his usual big sliding challenges! No match next weekend