CHELMSFORD Hockey Club continued to maintain the pressure towards the top of the table following a 2-1 win at Blueharts on Saturday.
The Green and Whites now sit fourth of the Men's Hockey League East Premier A, just four points off the summit.
A poor start to the game from the visitors saw Blueharts come away with a few chances, but luckily their strikers weren't on top notch from the word go and failed to hit the target from a number of clear cut chances.
Chelmsford soon came away with a superb goal capped off by man of the match Vasan Veerapalan, getting a brilliant deflection off a hard hit ball into the D. The move had begun at the back just a few moments earlier but quick passing up the pitch created the opportunity.
Blueharts soon fell apart structurally giving Chelmsford some good goal opportunities but not coming away with anything. With the first half coming to a close there was a rush of blood, quite literally, as a Blueharts player tackled from the wrong side and ended up taking a stick to the forehead, which created quite a spectacle of crimson patterns laced across his face.
In spite of only taking in a narrow 1-0 lead into half time, Chelmsford had clearly been the dominant team. The second half began as a repeat of the first half, building up the play nicely and getting a few good opportunities on goal. Half way through the second half Harry Rayner scored a lovely drag flick in the bottom corner. With the rest of the game tight and physical Blueharts picked up a deserved yellow card for a stick tackle, but soon after Will Stock was yellow carded for knocking the ball away after the whistle had gone.
With Chelmsford being put under pressure from the opposition they gave away a short corner. Blueharts saw this as a good opportunity to get a goal, which they did, although it somewhat controversially awarded as Chelmsford remained convinced that an infringement had taken place. Blueharts smelt blood, not literally this time, and kept the pressure up through the rest of the game. This culminated in a penalty corner being awarded as the final whistle went, but this one last opportunity to level the scores was battered away by the visiting defence.
Whilst taking the three points was a welcome reward for the journey, Chelmsford could and should have put the game to bed much sooner.
Next week Chelmsford host Bedford at midday.
