Chesterfield Hockey Club men’s 1st team faced visitors Kingston – upon-Hull, in what was sure to be a tough test. The corresponding away fixture in October ended in disappointment for Chesterfield with a 3-4 defeat, although there were positives to take with a strong 2nd half fightback.

The home fixture presented an opportunity for Chesterfield to make amends, and indeed the match started very well for Chesterfield with Ollie Addy pouncing on a loose clearance and pushing home from close range with just 4 minutes gone. Only a few minutes later, a well worked penalty corner resulted in Ryan Speed neatly deflecting the ball home to make it 2-0.

The home side continued to play with a very high level of intensity in both defence and attack, and looked dangerous going forwards. It was the pace of Ollie Addy that engineered the 3rd goal; a neatly taken finish pushing the ball into the bottom corner to make it 3-0. Addy who has only recently moved from midfield onto the forward line, showed his class when he completed a stunning first half hat-trick, with 10 minutes still left to play, to make it 4-0 to Chesterfield.

Hull pulled a goal back just after half time scoring with a penalty corner to give them a glimmer of hope. However, Chesterfield continued to work hard with standout defenders Fin Brailsford and Josh Beardsley creating several attacking opportunities. Collectively, Chesterfield produced some good passages of play in the 2nd half, staying patient and keeping the ball well with some good movement across the whole team. This patience was rewarded when player of the match Ollie Addy (pictured) was again in the right place at the right time to score a good goal on the backhand, and get his 4th of the match, restoring a 4 goal lead for Chesterfield to make it 5-1.

The best attacking move of the game then resulted in Chesterfield’s 6th goal. Josh Beardsley passed the ball into the Hull circle, before Addy cleverly deflected the ball to Jonty Duffy who then opened his account in Chesterfield colours, smashing a first time backhand shot high into far corner.

Chesterfield had further chances to score 1 or 2 more goals, but for some sloppy penalty corner routines. Hull then grabbed a late consolation goal with a well finished backhand shot, but it was Chesterfield who closed the match as deserved winners with the final score, Chesterfield 6-2 Hull.

Next week Chesterfield host Stokesley in their next league match, and will want to continue in this form and look for another strong performance.