Another late Saturday evening and another game for the Hawks first side men’s team. This weekend’s game was against top of the table UWA played on the second ground of the Perth Hockey Stadium. The Hawks have only faced UWA once where they went down 4-2.
The line-up for this game changed with Thomas Vince in goals for Brett Chappells and short notice losses to Leighton Keane and Gavin Mclarren meaning the Hawks normal 13 sided team was reduced to 11. This would have made the strong UWA team feel confident with their two bench side of 13 players.
The pre-game tradition started with an early shock to Captain Lee Hansord who loss the opening toss. This is a rarity for the captain with most pre-game decisions in the favour of the Hawks. With UWA electing to start with the ball the game started with the Hawks on the back foot.
The whistle blew and away went any advantage UWA had on the Hawks with the Hawks attacking early and dominating the first 15 minutes of the half. The Hawks saw plenty of scoring opportunities rarely letting the ball leave the UWA half. However it seemed luck was against the Hawks as all shots (from penalty corners or set plays) were all unanswered.
UWA took control of the Hawks lack of luck putting the Hawks back on their back foot and taking control of the end of the first half slicing through three consecutive goals. In a half that looked to go the Hawks way the third placed team saw themselves three goals down coming off from the half time whistle.
The second half started and the Hawks knew they had a tough battle to fight. The start of the first half seemed fairly even as each team took a turn in attack. However the Hawks persistence finally payed off when they were awarded a penalty corner and the planned set play from Lee Hansord saw him taking initiative by passing the ball to Steve Martino who was unmarked on the post and easily flicking the ball into the net.
The Hawks, who were still in the game continued to fight hard in the final half. Unfortunately time eventually got the better of them and the game ended 3-1. Next week the Hawks are up against Riverside at UWA in the daylight hour of 1pm on Saturday. This will be a game that the Hawks will be eager to win after drawing against this team the last time they met.
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