There was controversy at the last hockey game of the term as rivals Langwith and Derwent played out a very competitive 1-1 draw on Sunday.
Controversy arose when Sam Dower scored what would have been the Langwith winner with the last shot of the game, only for the goal to be awarded and then overturned after the second umpire called a foul in the build-up. While the Langwith team was less than impressed, Derwent definitely seemed pleased with the lucky break.
Before the controversy however, there was a grueling game which was played in the right spirit by both the teams. Langwith took the lead early on when Sam Dower made a nice run into the circle and finished quite nicely.
Derwent, despite their superior numbers, seemed quite content playing on the counter-attack but the Langwith defence comprising Jamie Hanna, Guy Bennett and Henrietta Temple held strong for most of the game.
For Derwent, Jack Bradshaw was the most impressive player and he made a lot of incisive runs into the opposite third and it was no surprise when the Derwent goal came as a result of one of these runs when Greg MacDonald scored the equalizer, although there were claims of a foul on Langwith captain Doug Jayatilaka in the build-up to the goal.
Langwith had a couple of good chances to win the game as well but poor finishing let them down. Langwith captain Doug was proud of the way his team had performed and had this to say: “Great performance, we played with fewer players but we deserved to win. In some periods Langwith dominated and was a great a way to cap off a fun season. I’m very proud of my team.”
Derwent: Greg MacDonald, Nicky Johnston (c), Allison Wise, Chris Hopkins, Will Ingram, Jack Bradshaw, Rosie McCluskey, Ellie Buran, Callum Douglas and Matte Retzius
Langwith: Doug Jayatilaka (c), Jessica Paisley, Sam Dower, Prakhar Chandra, Jamie Hanna, Henrietta Temple, Guy Bennett, Sam Prime