Men's 1st XI vs Haslemere 1

The first quarter was relatively even but Haslemere capitalised on a penalty corner to take a narrow 1-0 lead. The next period began with an open play goal from Haslemere, Alfie Richards popping up to beat Winchester keeper Seb Eaton. Haslemere looked sharper and passed the ball easily at pace, whilst Winchester failed to combine for more than a couple of passes before giving away possession. Winchester's two centre backs, Matt Kenyon and James Pawley, did their best to prevent further damage, but the inability to clear the ball safely cost the team dear as Richards powered home a reverse strike just before half time.

Despite the hard work of midfielders Steve Poole, Rob Craddock and skipper Nick Clark, the absence of former national league players Mark Maunsell and Kieran Malloy, plus an injury to the dangerous Will Leyland meant that too rarely the team were able to find their dangerous forwards Ben Hibberd and Ben Anthony in sufficiently advanced areas. However, there were chances created as the game progressed with Rory Kilpatrick firing just wide and Anthony nearly manufacturing a goal from a narrow angle with a shot from a yard over his head. With Winchester starting to threaten the Haslemere goal, the wind was taken out of their sails as Richards ran the ball from the half way line, powering through three Winchester tackles in the process, to slam the ball past Eaton for a fine hat trick and a 4-0 lead.

Winchester then gave signs of what could have been achieved with more application as Sam Goacher picked up on a loose ball and pulled one back with a reverse strike with seven minutes remaining. A penalty corner with two minutes remaining saw Ben Hibberd force the keeper into a double save, the second of which fell to Goacher to find the net once again. This made the score more respectable, but concerns over their league position remain.