HOCKEY — Greenock Morton Match Reports

GREENOCK Morton Hockey Club ladies’ winning streak finally came to an end against a well-organised Glasgow University side who were hard-to-break down. 

The girls struggled to get to grips with the opposition’s formation and couldn’t apply their usual pressure on the defence.  The end result was a 2-0 defeat but the girls remain very much in contention at the top end of the table and it makes the match this Saturday away to GHK even more interesting. 

The Gents’ 2nd XI’s West District 3rd Division fixture against Hillhead took place at Old Anniesland, Glasgow. It was an energetic start from both teams with Greenock holding the majority of the possession. Despite this it was the home team who opened the scoring midway through the first half after pouncing on a defensive error from Greenock. 

The half ended with the score line 1-0 to Hillhead. The second half began and a revitalised Greenock team were quick out of the blocks. After some quick passing in the Hillhead D, Bruce Glenny fired a shot into the bottom left corner and put Greenock back on level terms. 

However, it took just a few minutes before Hillhead restored their one-goal lead with a fierce counter-attack ending with a well-finished goal. With 10 minutes left to play and Greenock pushing for another equaliser, Stuart Smart weaved through the Hillhead defence and drew a foul resulting in a short corner for Greenock. From the corner a ferocious flick from Alan Martin was parried by the goalkeeper and fell to Bruce Glenny. Hungry for a second goal he moved the ball swiftly onto his reverse stick and rifled his shot off the right post and into the top corner, leaving the keeper helpless. 

Greenock grabbed the ball and sprinted back to the halfway line eager for a third goal but they didn’t have enough time and the final whistle blew. Both teams were exhausted and seemed disappointed with the result as they both pushed for all three points as the thrilling, end-to-end game finished Greenock Morton 2-2 Hillhead.

Youngster Connor Muirhead made his debut and was involved in the build-up to the first goal. Meanwhile Ian McClure and Jamie McDowell returned to the hockey pitch after a few years away from the game.