29th Feb 2020 Mens 1st v City of York Men's 1s(Away) 6 - 4 win
In a ten goal thriller, Rhydding came out on top against bottom of the league, York and now sit fifth in the table. They played some great hockey and it did not take long for Charlie Smith to start on his hat-trick to take his team into the lead. The game was end to end as both teams looked to play fast break hockey and Torran Hockley made some important saves for Rhydding. However York unleashed an impressive drag flick to level the scores at 1-1 from their first corner. Smith struck again after some good baseline work from Callum Franks, consolidating on some flourishing possession hockey. Will McHugh deflected a perfect cross from Charlie Smith to stretch Rhydding’s lead to 3-1 and they went confidently into the second half.
Rhydding had all the game now but confusion over an umpiring decision caught them out and York broke away and scored to give them a lifeline back into the game at 3-2. Rhydding picked up the flow again and Charlie Smith scored a spectacular individual goal for his hat-trick and to take Rhydding to a 4-2 lead. Rhydding really looked to be in the ascendancy now but an indulgent yellow card meant they were caught in underload from the free hit and York’s star player seized the chance to claw back to 4-3. Luckily for Rhydding, York then got a yellow card and numbers were even again and Rhydding stepped up the pace. Keeping the ball patiently, a great passage of play ended with young Rob Elsworth smashing home a quality goal to widen the gap to 5-3. But York bit back again and scored from a corner to chase the game back to 5-4. Rhydding replied immediately with a string of passes ending in Rob Elsworth nudging the ball to Will Musgrave who slotted easily to seal the game at 6-4.