BUCS Men’s Hockey: York 2nds 5-2 Leeds Metropolitan

[visiongallery set=72157640076029344]

Photos: Jack Western

UYHC 2nds made an excellent start to 2014 with a convincing 5-2 victory over Leeds Met. The win means that the White Rose go top of the league in place of their opponents, although Leeds Met have a game in hand.

In what was billed as a must-win fixture, Dom Munns’ side will be pleased with the manner of their gritty win, which was at times a lot closer that the final scoreline suggested. Despite conceding two cheap goals, Joe Hubbard’s hat-trick and two goals from drag-flick specialist Laurie Torrington were enough to secure victory against the league leaders.

However, York made a sluggish start given the importance of the fixture. The visitors poured forward with greater attacking intent, and forced home ‘keeper Sam Mackinnon to push the ball out for a short corner, from which the Black & Gold found themselves punished, as Leeds converted a simple hooked finish for a 1-0 lead.

The hosts sought an immediate response, as Kris Siva and Chris Daniel spearheaded the forward initiative. An equaliser seemed on the cards, and York almost gained a foothold from Hubbard’s shot, only for a stunning save from the away ‘keeper to thwart him. It was a different story from the resulting short corner though, as Torrington converted with a delightful drag flick finish to level the scores.

The rest of the half was a cagey affair, with sloppy passing and resolute defence characterising both sides’ displays. The White Rose knew they had to take their chances when they came, and Torrington duly obliged with the second goal – almost a carbon copy of his first effort.

Suddenly, the floodgates opened for the hosts, as Daniel’s pass sent Hubbard through for a simple finish just minutes later. Hubbard struck the fourth goal just before the stroke of half-time to leave the travelling Leeds Met bewildered as their discipline crumbled completely.

After the break, the visitors regained some of their earlier rhythm, but were constantly being disrupted by the industrious Tom Armston-Clarke in the middle of the park. York themselves were playing with greater fluency than in the first period, and found themselves relatively untroubled by the opposition in a largely attritional second half.

Both sides were following rather linear attacking patterns, and thus unable to assert dominance on the game. York struggled to kill the game off at first, and were made to pay as another Leeds short corner reduced the arrears to 4-2.

Luckily for the hosts, Hubbard ended any lingering anxieties of  a comeback with a diving finish with three minutes left on the clock. York closed the game out comfortably to secure the victory which keeps them thoroughly in the promotion mix.

After the game, captain Dom Munns told Vision: “We played a lot better in the second half – our passing was a lot better. We are lucky to have such a good drag flicker in Laurie Torrington. I thought we also kept discipline much better than usual, particularly in a game as important as this.

“It’s great to go top of the league and beat the league leaders so convincingly. It really keeps us in contention.”