Varsity 2017: UKC Hockey Men’s 1s Suffer Crushing Defeat

Kent Men’s Hockey 1s suffered a 5-1 drubbing against CCCU in their Varsity clash at the UKC Astro on Monday night.

Kent looked unsettled right from the off as CCCU commanded play around the field and the deadlock was broken after just three minutes. A fired shot deceived the keeper and Christ Church took an early lead.

CCCU continued to the put the pressure on Kent and apart from a great save by the UKC keeper after an early penalty corner, the half was all CCCU’s. They doubled their lead after eighteen minutes on the second attempt from another penalty corner and already it looked like Kent had a mountain to climb. At half time the score was 2-0 but that only told half the story.

After the half time interval Christ Church started exactly where they left off and after 40 minutes their lead grew to three as another excellent shot was flicked past the keeper and into the goal. Kent showed more promise with darting runs forward into the opposition’s half but CCCU seemed to have an answer for everything and soon it was 4-0 with just thirty minutes left to play. To add insult to injury Kent got a green card and for the next few minutes had to play with a man down after an unsporting reaction to the fourth goal.

A consolation goal was on offer after a penalty flick was awarded to UKC for foul play in the D but after a good save by the CCCU keeper it was clear tonight was not Kent’s night.

Another penalty corner allowed CCCU to extend their lead to five after 55 minutes of play and, if it was not for Kent’s well worked goal after an hour’s play, Kent would have had little to take from the match.

The game ended with a yellow card for CCCU for more foul play but by then the game was already settled and all that Christ Church had to do was see the final few minutes of the match out.

At the end of play on a wintery night at the UKC Astro it was Kent 1-5 CCCU.