Redditch Hockey Club

Redditch Under 18’s crashed out of the Under 18’s cup on Sunday after succumbing to an 8-2 defeat away at a strong Wolverhampton side.

The scoreline however was somewhat unfair on the young Reds, with some promising play at times indicating a bright future for the club.

Wolverhampton took the lead in the 9^th minute, but only after Redditch keeper Jake Smith had denied the Wolves attackers’ first shot on goal.

The home side doubled their lead in the 16^th minute after a free run into the box.

However Redditch showed signs of coming back into the game, a nice flowing move through midfield unleashed Matt Grubb on goal, only to be thwarted by the Wolverhampton defence.

Moments later it was Wolverhampton on the attack again, with a forward moving past the hard working Dean Farmer and shooting past Smith.

And the game seemed to be beyond Redditch by the 23^rd minute when Wolverhampton went 4-0 ahead.

But Redditch ended the half strongly, with John Manison, Dan Spires, Ben McFarland and Dave Pilkington all combining well, and Dan Jakeman in the centre of most of the action.

The pressure eventually paid off early in the second half, with Wolverhampton conceding a penalty corner from which Manison produced a powerful shot to hit the back of the net.

Within five minutes, coach Adrian Young would have been dreaming of a comeback after Manison scored again from another penalty corner.

But all thoughts of a turnaround were ended when Wolverhampton went back up the other end to move 5-2 ahead.

That proved the killer moment, as the home side scored three more times in eight minutes to progress to the next round.

The youngsters exit from the cup means they will now take part in the Plate, with a by to the second round in a months time.