Yobbos get comeuppance as Colombians register first win

Perhaps the unusual 5.30pm start time for this rearranged Men’s Division One clash had a bearing on the performances of both sides, but there was nothing flattering about the scoreline as previously pointless Colombians inflicted a first defeat of the season on Yobbos.

The men in pink-and-whites were without a couple of key players, none more so than Ant Stokes, who was reduced to a watching brief from the sidelines, but Zak Damarell was shorn of some regulars, too – yet his yellows produced a display of purpose and penetration to get off the mark for the season in some style, 4-1, after their narrow back-to-back defeats at the hands of champions Indies.

Colombians were at it right from the opening whistle and early on Andrew Dawson-Ball and Max Eyton-Jones were both involving in a flowing move that presented Jack Curran with the first chance of the games, but he miscued his reverse-stick strike and it looped just wide.

They did not have long to wait before they broke the deadlock, though.

In the fourth minute, good pressing high up the pitch saw the yellows win the ball inside the Yobbos’ D and captain Damarell fired an irresistible shot into the top corner.

Bar Jack Birch telegraphing one attempted cross-field pass and intercepting to create an opportunity for himself that he put wide, it was largely one-way traffic as Yobbos failed to get a foothold in the game and Colombians doubled their lead on 12min.

The goal originated from a penalty-corner that saw Sam Dawes’ initial drive take a deflection off a defender’s stick onto the crossbar and, as Colombians kept the attack alive, he soon had another chance to strike at goal, which would have probably found its way in on its own but Damarell made sure by getting the final touch.

With Yobbos barely able to muster anything of note at the other end, Colombians would have been disappointed not to have added to their tally before half-time, but Damarell saw a couple of short-corner attempts saved by Jack Webber, Dawes put one shot just wide and Curran did not quite get enough angle on his subtle deflection at the end of one of the best moves of the match as the half drew to a close.

Yobbos needed the interval to regroup and they did improve for a while after the turnaround, which eventually led to them halving the deficit midway through the second half, with Matt Stokes making no mistake with his penalty stroke.

The Island midfielder twice came close to levelling the match moments later at back-to-back short-corners.

The first saw his drag flick deflected onto the bar by a defender’s stick and the second was blocked on the line by Chris Lindsay. But Colombians weathered that brief storm and re-established their two-goal cushion with eight minutes remaining as Dawes’ low short-corner strike was helped into the roof of the net by the defender covering the post.

Hamish Glass made sure of the points, firing home after Damarell’s run set up the chance.