Ramblers have to manage without Hennessy

Having been soundly thrashed by Alderley in a pre-season friendly, Deeside went into this away fixture with some trepidation. Spirits were not lifted by an injury to Deeside’s midfield dynamo – Liam ‘Happy’ Hennessy – which meant he could not take part in the game at all. The visitors down to 15 from the off.

Alderley started brightly and forced 2 good saves from Hill in the Deeside goal. The pink salmon squeezing the ball wide between his pads then batting the ball away at his right hand post. This settled Deeside who produced a couple of half chances themselves – Will Dodd-Moore and Neil Worrall coming close.

However it was Alderley who opened the scoring. A crossfield aerial ball flew millimeters from the head of Warwick Ryan-Beswick on its way to a waiting forward in the D who slotted the ball past little Jimmi. 0-1 Alderley just managed to keep out Deeside’s first penalty corner on the stroke of quarter time. Ten minutes after the break Ghazanfar put away Deeside’s second penalty corner – Alderley’s goalkeeper and post man contriving to let the low flick roll over the line! 1-1. Hill kept the scores even into the half time break with 2 more smart saves from penalty corners. Extra midweek practice with Deeside’s ever youthful goalkeeper coach was paying off!

Deeside went ahead from a penalty corner within a minute of the restart. A slip move to Bart Ryan-Beswick saw him slap home at the second attempt past the hapless goalkeeper. 2-1. Another slip move at Deeside’s next penalty corner 6 minutes later created an opportunity for Warwick Ryan-Beswick who made no mistake with a deft deflection. 3-1. Deeside were in full control now – the home sides heads were down and they couldn’t get the ball out of their own half. A curious green card for Harry Dodd-Moore for winning a 50:50 challenge did lift Alderley’s hopes as they strove to capitalise on the advantage of having the extra man.

Another penalty corner save from the pink salmon diving away to his left maintained Deeside’s two goal advantage but Alderley’s good spell did see them pull a goal back. A penalty corner passing move was nudged in past a sprawling Russ Hornby at the back post. He lay motionless for some time but it was more through embarrassment at missing the ball than injury. 3-2

Deeside stretched their legs again and looked to have worked the right balance between solid defence and counterattack until Graham ‘Monkey’ Allwood’s funny five minutes. Firstly, he was sin binned for disagreeing with an umpire’s decision rather loudly - “don’t you shout at me” the umpire cried as he brandished his green card aloft. The absence of the visitor’s most reliable defender did cause a few moments of panic but they help out until the final moments of the game. With literally 2 seconds on the clock a clumsy tackle on the edge of the D resulted in the award of a penalty corner – yes you’ve guessed it – it was Allwood committing the foul!!

Would Alderley draw level at the death? They attempted the same routine from which they scored their second goal – but Monkey redeemed himself as he read the move, swinging into action to snuff out the attempted cross. Final whistle 3-2 to Deeside

Next week sees a break from National League hockey due to the Olympic qualifiers for GB men and women.