Sheffield Bankers Beaten

WBTHC men’s 1s may have travelled to Sheffield University with a depleted squad, but that didn’t stop them executing a brilliant tactical display to bring back all 3 points to the North East.

WBTHC were content to let Sheffield have the ball in their own half as they stayed tight and worked together as a unit to steal the ball and hit Sheffield on the break. James Talbot used his pace and broke several times early in the game and looked a constant threat throughout. The game plan and hard work paid off as they opened the scoring when Talbot slotted home after a good by-line run and pull back from Simon Miles, which would give them the advantage at half time.

WBTHC doubled their lead early in the second half as Chris Traynor was able to finish off the scraps from close range as an initial shot was well saved from the Sheffield keeper. Sheffield, to their credit did not give in and continued to enjoy much possession but with a lack of cutting edge. Finally they were able to get on the score sheet and pull a goal back, although WBTHC felt very hard done by, as a swing and a miss from the Sheffield forward was left unpunished and meant he had plenty of time and space at his 2nd attempt to slot the ball into the bottom right hand corner. Sheffield, sensing their opportunity threw everything at WBTHC over the next 10 minutes, but the away side used all their experience and defended resolutely as a unit before the game was put to bed when Jonathan Stoddart was found unmarked at the back post to finish from close range after a counter attack from the left.