Ross 2nd XI Men's hockey team played their first game of the season at home last Saturday (27th September) against a good Cirencester team and finished without any reward after a very competitive match. With regular stalwarts missing such as Piers Tremlett and Gareth Hughes, the opportunity presented itself for the club's youth to step up and make their league debuts. Into the fray stepped Dan Mills and Rory Calderbank, who did not disappoint. Throughout the first half they both showed moments of brilliance and magic, which underlines the hard work they put in every Monday and Wednesday evening at training. Team coach Pete Jenkins can be justifiably proud. Up front the father and son duo of Steve and Alex Hetenyi caused the Cirencester defence all sorts of problems. They were unfortunate on countless occasions with shots going just wide or deflecting off a prostrate keeper. It is unfortunate their persistence never paid off. In the Ross goal, debutant keeper James Evans showed outstanding courage in the second half when Cirencester threatened to roll Ross over. He managed to keep Ross in the game during a 15-minute spell when they could so easily have been overwhelmed. Instead, with five minutes left on the clock, Ross decided to throw caution to the wind in an attempt to grasp the laurels. Regretfully this left James too exposed and there was little he could do as Cirencester capitalised with two quick counter attacks. James was voted the South Hereford Motorcaravans man of the match for his heroics between the posts against sometimes overwhelming odds.