19th Mar 2022 Mens 1st v Stockton(Away) 4 - 1 win
Rhydding travelled up to Stockton and battled with their brand new pitch. Dry and spongy, it slowed the game down and the ball was skipping and flipping all over the place. Despite this, it only took 3 minutes for Rhydding to take the lead; Matty Birch leading by example and scoring from a strong corner. Ross McMillan scored the second with some text book circle work and Will Musgrave claimed the third with a delightful corner. The fourth goal was an exhibition of class hockey; starting with some impressive defensive discipline to win the ball back from Neil Sugden, Matty Birch and Dave McCollum and then some beautiful connections through midfield from Ross McMillan, Callum Franks and Rob Ramsden to get Charlie Smith on the ball, who was helped by a selfless clearance lead from Rob Elsworth and was able to put Max Helme through to draw the keeper and slip the ball to the safe hands of Will Musgrave who stroked home the goal at the post.
Stockton scored a nice individual goal before half time to save face but despite no goals being scored in the second half, Rhydding simply settled into cruise control and dominated. It was only Stockton’s keeper who pulled off some stunning saves, that kept the score down.
Rhydding remain top of the league with 3 games to go, including Lindum who scraped a win to remain snapping at Rhydding’s heels.