Terriers Dognapped In Season Opening Defeat

A youthful Terriers team, with nine u16s in the team, were caught napping in their first league game of the season, as Witney stole into a two goal lead before the team clicked into place and showed promise for the season ahead.

The game was only 4mins old when Witney 3s carved open the Terriers defence and scored with their first attack of the game. Two minutes later, and they had doubled their lead when Terriers were slow again to deal with a swift Witney attack which was swept in confidently. However, heads didn't drop, and as the half progressed the Terriers began to assert themselves more. Three penalty corners went unconverted, and the Terriers finished the half beginning to take more control of the game.

It was more of the same in the second half, with both sides having their chances, before Austin Jennings brought a goal back with a well taken strike from the right side of the D. Terriers kept the pressure on - constant attacks down the right hand side came to nothing, whilst in the centre Ben Lambourne had an outstanding game. Austin Jennings and James Romain both had chances to bring an equaliser, and with 5mins to go, Paul Harvey (who had risen Lazarus like from man-flu induced sickbed for the game) was unlucky not to get more from a strong, mazy run into the circle. However, in the end, time wasn't on the Terriers side and it finished 2-1 to Witney.

As a development side, it is not all about the results, and there was much to take as positive from the resilience to come back from a shocking start, along with signs of good attacking promise in the team. Learning to not always carry the ball into the tackle, and instead work on distributing the ball quickly across the pitch, will bring rewards for a young team.