Greens enjoy a golden time again

Guernsey 4, UCL Academicals 3

(Golden goal extra time)

GUERNSEY had to rely on a golden goal yesterday for the second match in a row in the HA Trophy.

In the opening round of the national competition last month, the Greens threw away a 3-1 lead at Eastbourne for the home side to level things after 70 minutes of play.

The Sarnians proceeded to earn the honours with a goal from player-coach Ben Allberry with a minute left in extra time.

And it was a similar story in front of a large home support on The Hockey Club balcony at Foote's Lane as Guernsey again were 3-1 up against UCL Academicals only to throw away their advantage.

Andy Alford secured the win in the first minute of extra time for the home side to see them progress through to the third round, which is being drawn today by the English Hockey Association.

'That's the second time that's happened – we need to finish games off earlier,' said Guernsey captain Andy Whalley.

'But we did come back and then finished it off quickly. It was a good win. We are a quick team and we like to break fast, but we've got to learn to kill teams off. We need to go back to training and put things right.

'In the next round we'd like to finish it in 70 minutes and not 80.'