Ben Rhydding hit by Sherlock blow (From Ilkley Gazette)

Ben Rhydding hit by Sherlock blow

10:26am Thursday 20th September 2012 in Sport

The Yorkshire Hockey Association first team Cup provided Ben Rhydding with a useful training day.

It gave them the chance to experiment with various blends of players in the lead up to their first league game on Saturday week.

They suffered a blow prior to the event when young starlet, Harry Sherlock broke his thumb during training after having made such a promising debut the week before.

However, in spite of this and still awaiting a return to a full-strength squad, Rhydding competed well throughout the day.

A 2-0 win in their opening game against Leeds Univer- sity was reassuring.

Ali Jordan opened the scoring by converting a cross from Will Musgrave.

The lively Musgrave also set up the second goal for Danny Foster who slid in at the post to score.

A draw against Leeds HC was frustrating as Rhydding failed to find a way past their outstanding keeper.

Neil Sugden eventually found the net from a penalty corner, but this was to level at 1-1.

Losing to York 2-1 was disappointing as Rhydding had almost all of the possession but conceded twice at a penalty corner against the run of play.

Foster claimed his second goal of the day in this match with a neat flick into the net after taking up a great position at the post again.

The game against Lincoln was an ugly affair.

Rhydding, with a reduced squad, naively fell into the trap of rising to the bait and once again, conceded against the run of play.

A solid chat from skipper, Dave Exley, pulled the players back into line and they pulled Chapeltown apart with a disciplined and unified performance.

The impressive Musgrave’s cross to Sykes was slotted and then Musgrave took his own reward with a drag flick from a corner.

David Cutter arrived for the afternoon’s matches and proved his Peter Pan status by notching up a hat-trick.

Down to an exhausted ten men going into the final match, assistant coach, Jono McMillan took to the field and gave fresh legs to the team.

Sykes scored to take them level at 1-1 but a sloppy midfield error giving away a corner allowed Harrogate to finish the game off at 2-1.

Rhydding have one more friendly this Saturday at Adel at 3pm and then will select their final squad for the first league match.