Derwent are held at Wellingborough

Derwent saw their winning streak halted as hosts Wellingborough held them to a draw on Saturday.

Keeper Jamie Carlin was the star of the day, securing his second man-of-the-match display in a row with possibly his best display for the club.

The first-half kicked off with a flurry of penalty corners for Wellingborough. However, resolute defending by Adam Orduna, James Woodard and Matt Bacon in tandem with Carlin kept the game even.

Then, a mix of enforced and tactical substitutions worked wonders for Derwent as a Dean Stevens through ball fed Nick Harrod-Evans who shrugged off the Wellingborough defence and lifted the ball over their keeper.

Wellingborough took this setback in their stride and continued to pressure the Derwent goal but to no avail.

Harrod-Evans, John Beardsley and Tom Ellison provided a threat on the break and opportunities to extend the lead were missed by the narrowest of margins.

Parity was restored early in the second-half after a break down the wing saw Wellingborough level via a mixture of post and stick.

Joe Skinner and Chris Hall worked hard in midfield and whatever got past them, Carlin saved.

Captain Ellison was disappointed after the game. He said: “We’ve been on a great run since Christmas but having no fixture last weekend came at the wrong time for us. A little bit of impetus was lost but very few teams leave Wellingborough with even a point.”

That wasn’t the end of the action for the weekend for Beardsley and Steve Langrick though as Sunday brought round three of the Now Pensions: Men’s Masters (Over 40s) Trophy to Wirksworth against Nottingham Masters, the visitors eventually winning 6-1.

With 20 goals scored in rounds one and two, Neil English could expect a busy day in goal but Derwent started brightly, going close in the first minute. However, Nottingham opened the scoring midway through the half with a well drilled penalty corner.

This was the first of a four-goal flurry as Derwent equalised straight away; Langrick and Nick Prior combining down the right before finding Beardsley in the area to convert.

The next 2 goals went to Nottingham though, both from penalty corners before Prior sustained an ankle injury which ended his game.

The second-half started with a period a sustained pressure for the Wirksworth side, Jason Sign adding to the attacking threat down the right and Heath Roberts holding the ball up well, but determined defending by Nottingham kept these attacks at bay until Derwent tired.

Two more goals from penalty corners and a final goal from open play added gloss to a Nottingham win.