By Andy Davis

WEST HOCKEY LEAGUE MEN’S PIRAN DIVISION ONE (SATURDAY)

Camborne School of Mines 2 Bude 0

A HEAVILY DEPLETED Bude squad made their promotion rivals work hard before going down to a 2-0 defeat at Penryn College.

Despite missing several key players, the thriving youth section was able to offer support as Luke and Marc Leverton made their senior team debuts to help ensure Bude gave the best account possible of themselves under the circumstances.

Bude had their plan, and they stuck to it religiously throughout the whole game which is a massive credit to them given the pressure they were under.

This achievement marks a huge step forward in the bigger picture and shows how far the squad has progressed from last season; there is obviously more work to do to keep securing the points when the squad is down on numbers, but this performance hopefully gives them the confidence and signals the turning point.

The game got off to a brisk start with Cambourne pressing right from the first whistle and within just seven minutes they had taken the lead as dangerman Hobie Ambrose dribbled hard from the halfway line, and as he got towards the D he cut inside from the left and hit a perfect reverse stick shot low into the opposite bottom corner.

Bude did not panic and slowly worked themselves back into the game, creating two very good chances. But the home keeper made a smart save for the first and the second shot drifted in between the back post and the onrushing Bude attacker’s stick.

With the pressure mounting Bude secured a short corner after approximately 25 minutes which the hosts managed to block and switch immediately to a counter-attack. With a three-on-one scenario there was little that either the Bude defender or keeper could do as the ball was passed around them both and into the goal for 2-0.

The Seasiders were not fazed and resiliently continued to fight, creating numerous turnovers and chances until the half-time whistle came.

They all knew they were giving their opponents a tough match and realistically the scoreline should have been closer, so all they had to do was stick to the plan and trust the process so things would turn in their favour.

So, the second half began with the visitors continuing to frustrate Camborne by denying them any time or space through the middle and this made them cough up possession regularly which Bude gratefully took and used to create various attacks at every opportunity.

Midway through the away side’s best move came as joint men of the match Robin Jennings and Drew Bardsley linked up neatly with Jennings from central defence feeding Bardsley on the left wing who drove hard down the line and perfectly crossed the ball back across the D for Zack Davis who had flown in from the opposing wing to deflect the ball sublimely into the roof of the net.

However the umpire had adjudged the cross to have been completed with the back of the stick and the goal was ruled out.

Most promisingly, Bude stuck to their guns and kept forcing the play, creating a number of chances including another top quality shot that looked destined for the bottom corner.

But everything was snuffed out by the home keeper who pulled off a number of excellent saves to see his side narrowly win the game.

Had it not been for his excellent performance the score would have been very different, and Bude will take a lot of positives into Saturday’s home game against Penzance.