Under-15s' EHA trophy dream over

Guernsey under-15 1, Team Bath Buccaneers 2

GUERNSEY ran out of time as they fell to Team Bath Buccaneers in the England HA boys' under-15 Cup on Sunday. Bath had taken a 2-0 lead by half-time at Eastleigh Hockey Club but in the second half the Sarnians came back into the match.

They got one back through Adam Clark with the clock ticking down, but the final whistle was blown before they could get the equaliser.

'It was tough. We just couldn't get the goals early enough,' said Guernsey coach Nick Mahy.

'The boys played really well. Bath dominated the first half and they scored two goals but they could have gone in four or five up.

'We changed our formation and attitude at half-time and we dominated the second half but we just couldn't get the clear cut chances.'

If it were not for the heroics of Tom Eulenkamp in goal for the greens, Bath would have put the game out of sight in the opening 35 minutes.

The keeper pulled off one remarkable save when a shot came in from the top of the D and was heading for the top right hand corner before Eulenkamp, diving full stretch turned it round with his stick.

'He really kept the score down,' said Mahy.

In the second half athe tide turned as Guernsey started to hit their stride but goals were hard to come by.

It was not until two minutes to go, when Clark scored with a straight strike at a short corner.

But it was a case of too little, too late as Bath took the victory to progress through to the last 16.

Mahy picked out Clark, Eulenkamp and captain Tom Still after the match.

'Adam Clark played very well and with Tom Eulenkamp and Tom Still, they were our best performers,' he said.

'All the others played their part as well and there were some great individual pieces of skill from Nick Robilliard, Andrew Clark and Jack Curran.'

In the opening round of last season's competition, Guernsey had lost to the same opposition. To only narrowly lose this year, Mahy could take away some positives.

'We played the same club last year and lost 10-1 so it's a testament to the improvement that we've made,' he said.

'We did really well and gave a very promising performance. But it's still very disappointing that we didn't get something out of the game. The lads have put a lot of hard work in.'