Hockey: Irvine men end year on a high

Dec 11 2009 by John Woods, Irvine Herald

IRVINE Men's Hockey Club rounded off the year with a battling 1-0 West District Division Three home win over GHK on Saturday – a victory which opened up a six-point gap between the sides and saw them move up a place in the table.

The home midfield dominated from the start and, with ten minutes gone, Ryan Keyes met an angled Jamie Flannigan pass but although his effort beat the keeper, the ball clipped the outside of the post and went past.

Tommy Murphy gathered a pass from Shaun McCauley only to see his shot flash past the right hand post then, as GHK finally came into the game, the hard working Al Robertson showed his defensive qualities as he broke up a number of attacks.

Irvine got a real fright just before half time when GHK’s right winger saw his effort blocked by Neil Feggans just inside the goal circle and the home side were caught napping again just after the break when the same player skinned Billy Gemmell and raced in on goal only for Gemmell to clip his heels and end up in the sin bin for ten minutes.

That was the signal for GHK to pound the home goal and keeper Jim Gibson kept them in it with a great double save from a short corner.

Alan Baird made a brave block from another short corner but the return of Gemmell saw play swing to the other end where Gemmell met a Chris Gorman short corner only to see the city keeper make a good save.

Irvine finally got their noses in front on the hour mark when Murphy and McCauley released Keyes who dribbled past two defenders and teed up Gorman who slammed the ball home off the keeper’s pads for his fifth goal of the season.

Gibson booted clear as GHK tried to salvage something from the match then the Irvine keeper made another good save after the opposition left-winger dribbled past Feggans and shot for goal.

Gemmell had a chance to double Irvine’s lead when he met a Gorman short corner in the final minute but he screwed his attempt well wide of the target.

This was a good win for Irvine who go into the winter break sitting in the top half of the table.

Their next game is in the middle of January.

Saturday's match ball sponsor was Allison Financial Services of Kilwinning.