Newport are top this Christmas time
Newport Hockey Club’s men are sitting pretty at the top of the tree this Christmas time after easing past rock-bottom Leek 5-0.
Newport opened the scoring within the first five minutes, with Archie Bridgwood continuing his fine goalscoring form.
The lead was doubled with the goal of the day when Jake Bentham saw a gap in the Leek defence and drove into the space before unleashing a wicked reverse stick into the far corner.
The second half saw more of the same with Leek restricted to their own half and trying to run the ball out of trouble.
Newport remained positive and grabbed their third from a short corner with Ricky Lally producing the finish with a stylish drag flick.
Ben Edwards then got in on the act with a trademark back-post finish, finding himself in the right place at the right time.
And Newport rounded things off with 10 minutes to spare after a winding run from Bridgwood found Isaac Johnson unmarked with the simple task of slotting the ball home to make it 5-0.
Elsewhere, the men’s seconds got back to winning ways in style with a fine 9-1 victory at Stafford fourths, thanks to goals from Tom Lewis (two), Jack McLaughlin (two), Martin Hall (two), Benji Howells, Dom Elsmore and Tom Wright – this leaves them in second, just three points off the pace of league leaders Market Drayton.
The men’s thirds have won six on the spin – the latest a comfortable 7-1 triumph over Wednesbury seconds. The scorers were Ed Bushnell (two), Brad Cronwell (two), Toby Middleton, Ed Tivey, and Aidan Hofland.
The men’s fourths drew 2-2 at North Stafford sixths, despite taking a 2-0 lead through Sam Cole and Sam Crawford, while the ladies’ firsts came away from Tamworth with a 0-0 draw.
