WITH the three wins and a draw so far at home this season, Leominster Men’s hockey team are building something of a ‘fortress’ at Bridge Street Park, something that captain Yon Saunders believes is key to the team’s fortunes this season.

‘It’s very important for us because, as a team, we like to take our previous game’s form into the next game. We’ve not lost in all four at home so far this season and we look to take that into our away games, which last season let us down a bit, but we’ve actually gone away this year and picked up results at Swansea, Bristol and Firebrand which I think is due to having solid home form to build from,” he said.

With Leominster finishing third in the Conference North Division of the Davis Wood League last year, vice-captain Harry Ellis is keen to build on the strong start to the season, despite the increased level of competition in the division.

“We do like to take it game by game because if you look forward too many games in advance you can get a bit complacent," he said.

"Four teams came down last year which has definitely made the league a lot harder, it’s almost like a promotion for us with the standard of team that has come down into the division.

"So we are battling against those teams now to get into the top three or four again and so far I would say we are on an even level with those teams as we have upped our level of performance to match and even better them.

"For such a small club, we are really proud of our achievements and everyone has definitely made a big step up with their own performances.”

One of the other pluses this season is the emergence of some excellent youth players, with six of Saturday’s team aged 21 or under, including Ellis, which when coupled with the experience of the more senior players can be a huge benefit to the team, as Saunders said.

“I think it’s good to have a balance because you’ve got knowledge at the top and then you’ve got the youngsters coming through, who can use that knowledge and learn off the older guys, to help develop their game," said the skipper.

"We are happy to help them, we were their age once and we know that hockey is a lot to take in when you’re young, especially making the step up to adult hockey from a junior level.

"The plus for us is that they are responding really well to the challenge as you can see by the performances and results so far this season.”

This was certainly the case last Saturday as Leominster took on their closest local rivals Newent, looking to continue on their unbeaten streak at home.

The first half started poorly for the home side as they were 1-0 down inside the opening 10 minutes, an error in midfield leading to the Newent goal. However, from that moment onwards, Leominster dominated the game and were unlucky not to equalise, through a number of chances before half-time.

Leominster found their shooting sticks in the second half and the score was soon 2-2, goals from Rob Goodman and Ed Healey sandwiched another Newent strike in the space of just seven minutes.

From then on, it was all Leominster and the winning goal came from a short corner midway through the half, Ellis blasting the ball through a crowd of defenders and into the net.

However, with time running out and the game seemingly under control, Leominster gave away a penalty flick.

With the win at stake , goalkeeper Matt Styles stepped up to the plate as he saved superbly, wrapping up the maximum points for the home side as the game finished 3-2 and the unbeaten record still intact.

Leominster: Styles, Goode, Saunders, Davis, Harvey, Ellis, Healey, Rowsell, Duggan, Goodman, Dunn. Sub: Castle.

Goals:

Rob Goodman (41), Ed Healey (47), Harry Ellis (54)

STAR PLAYER: Matt Styles - Leominster

MATCH RATING: 3 STARS