Penarth unlucky (From Penarth Times)

Penarth unlucky

PENARTH Hockey Club began its campaign last weekend saddened by the news of the death of long serving member, Ken Williams.

A minute's silence was observed before all games and Penarth players and umpires wore black armbands as an act of remembrance.

Penarth Firsts took on Whitchurch C in a top of the table clash, knowing that they needed to win to keep up their title hopes this season.

Midway through the half, Govind Varsani scrambled the ball home to give the Seasiders a 1-0 lead. Chris Bake made it 2-0.

A mix-up at the start of the second half between Dave Stevens and Jason Harris allowed Whitchurch to open their scoring and they equalised ten minutes later.

This spurred on Penarth who regained the lead thanks to Robert Davison.

The opposition who went on to slot home a further two goals to triumph 4-3.

On Sunday Penarth B played Pembrokeshire A but despite dominating the first half they failed to take advantage of the many chances that came their way.

Following a disputed free hit, Pembrokeshire took the lead when a drilled ball into the D was deflected past the Penarth keeper.

Penarth continued to dominate in the second half and were rewarded with three goals, two from Dave Watkins and one from David Tipping.

The Thirds won 3-1 to open up a three point gap between themselves and fellow strugglers Bridgend. Man of the Match was Matt Birch.

In a free flowing game, Penarth Firsts ran out 6-4 winners away to Cardiff B, thanks to a hat trick from Chris Simms, two goals from James Kidby and a goal from Govind Varsani. Man of the Match was awarded jointly to Chris Simms, Mark Robinson and Rob Davidson.

Penarth A took on Cardiff C, and in a fiercely contested game Cardiff broke through the defence to win 6-2. This was a poor reward for the effort shown by the Penarth players. Man of the Match was Chris McCarthy.

This Saturday the Firsts are away to UW Cardiff B, the Seconds are at home to Pembrokeshire A and the Thirds take on Cardiff C at home.