By Andy Davis

WEST HOCKEY LEAGUE MEN’S PIRAN DIVISION ONE

Bude 3 Camborne School of Mines 2

KRISTOF Saunders’ last-gasp goal kept the Seasiders on course for promotion as they edged past leaders Camborne School of Mines at a rocking Budehaven Sports Centre.

Both sides started the contest full of confidence and a controlled midfield battle took hold for the first quarter, but it was Camborne who pounced first with a drive down straight through the heart of the Bude defence and a soft shot that squirmed past the home keeper and into the goal.

Bude’s response was measured and they began to slowly build back into the game, but chances came and went for both sides until an attack down Bude’s left was taken to the baseline and forced across the D where Henry Gwynn-Thomas made sure from close range to make it 1-1.

The second half got underway with Bude intent on fine turning a couple of items, this included playing quickly from free hits as their opponents were trying to do the opposite and disrupt the quick play. Bude won this mini battle early on and with persistent infringements and unnecessary dissent towards the official, it was only a matter of time until the Camborne players started to feel the wrath of the umpires.

After multiple warnings and opportunities to change their behaviour, Camborne failed and were duly given an assortment of cards which at one point meant they were down to just nine players.

This gave Bude the ideal platform to do some damage; yet the exact opposite happened as the Mines excelled in the face of adversity and took the lead once more capitalising on Bude’s disarray as a shot from the edge of D whistled through a crowded D and into the goal.

Needing a response, the hosts slowly cranked up the gears although the equaliser wouldn’t come, that was until a moment of magic from right winger Zack Davis.

After a masterful solo run down the right which saw him beat multiple players, he found himself in the unfamiliar place of heading in on goal with just the keeper to beat and he cooly kept his head to round the keeper and slot home at the near post which sent the crowd into overdrive.

Both teams then went tooth and nail for every ball but with the home side having the advantage of a 12th player in the form of the crowd, they had slightly more and better of the chances.

A draw would have been more than enough for the visitors to remain clear at the top, but with the last attack of the game Bude were awarded a penalty corner and the final whistle blew which meant the penalty corner would be the conclusion of the game.

The Seasiders spend plenty of time at training perfecting those moves for such moments and they decided on a team variation move out to the right and back to the penalty spot where Saunders deflected the ball into the net to send the players and crowd into delirium!

A visiting player saw red after the final whistle as some unsavoury scenes followed, while the player of the match award for Bude was shared between Davis and Charlie Falla who man-marked Camborne’s star striker out of the game.