Dudley Sport
Old Hales hopes hit by defeat
10:10pm Thursday 16th February 2012
OLD Halesonians saw their promotion hopes suffer a huge hit with a 2-0 defeat at Shrewsbury in West Midlands Premier Division.
With almost all of the games in the Midlands being cancelled, the fixture was just one of a handful which survived the freezing temperatures and it was a disappointing affair for the Hales side.
Shrewsbury dominated the game from the start as they pressed high up the pitch and did not let Hales play their free-flowing hockey.
Possession was short and quick, as both teams tried to counter each other.
The hosts opened the scoring when a penalty corner was awarded against defender Hales defender Ben Hughes and duly converted.
Hales were unable to convert a number of penalty corner chances themselves and Shrews grabbed their second before the break, capitalising on a lapse of concentration in the visiting back-line.
Going into the second-half Hales knew they had to break down the Shrews defence if they were going to get back in the game and they responded well.
Chances fell to Tom Bulteel, Josh Randhawa and Harry Hughes but all three were unable to find the net.
As the game entered into the final 10 minutes the disappointment of a poor performance turned into frustration as Old Hales lost their discipline.
Paul Harrold was sin-binned after being yellow carded for dissent and Hales were soon reduced to nine men, when Harry Hughes was yellow carded for throwing his stick after being substituted.
The double yellow carding will almost certainly lead to Hales being docked points for poor discipline.
Hales will look to get back to winning ways when they host Finchfield this weekend.
In the only other game to take place, Old Hales fifiths were beaten 3-2 at Evesham.