THE Margaret River A2 men put on a clinical display of hockey to defeat Countrys 5-0 and consolidate their position at the top of the ladder.
The match started with Margaret River applying pressure on the Countrys defence with the forwards being prepared to pass the ball back and switch play as they mounted their attacks. This drew the defenders out and creating plenty of clear pathways to the goals.
Brynley Jenkins opened the scoring with a well converted penalty corner and Grant Evans extended the lead to 2-0 with a perfectly timed shot after he had received a pass at the top of the goal circle.
Unfortunately, a lapse in concentration for the latter part of the first half with long passing and overcrowding in the goal circle resulted few scoring opportunities opening up in the remainder of the half.
In the second half the short, possessive game returned with forwards all stepping up and becoming more responsible, creating numerous goal scoring opportunities.
Holes opened up in the Countrys defence and this created pathways for the strikers to exploit.
Evans and Jenkins both played their positions well, carrying the ball quickly and also distributing excellent passes to the strike forwards to maintain the pressure.
Regan King had plenty of play and did very well to get the early passes away to his supporting team mates, and was instrumental in setting many attacking moves in motion.
Angus Hamilton scored a rebounded goal from a powerful penalty corner shot from Matt Bycroft.
Jordan King then notched up a goal for himself resulting from a good lead up passage coming into attack.
And finally, after much endeavour and a few earlier missed opportunities, Troy Coffey scored the team's fifth goal when he cleverly picked up a rebounded ball, sneaking it back into the goals from the right hand post.
Best players for Margaret River were Colin Fox who controlled the midfield lanes, Grant Evans with an impressive game on the wing and Regan King for doing the simple things well, tackling hard, trapping well and distributing the ball early to his team mates.
Next week's game is against Capel at 3pm on Sunday in Busselton.
