Skipper’s hat-trick fires Harrogate Hockey Club Men to victory over Leeds

Saturday’s clash at Ainsty Road saw the hosts secure their second win in three outings this term, to leave them fourth in the Yorkshire & North East Premier Division standings.

Chaz Edmondson opened the scoring with a clinical finish, but ‘Gate were soon pegged back by their visitors.

Skipper Clemerson then bagged his first goal of the afternoon with a fine individual effort, beating three Leeds players before rounding the goalkeeper and slotting in.

Some sloppy defending from the home side allowed Leeds to restore parity once again, though Will Rogers put the home side back in front with a nonchalant finish after fine work from Edmondson.

At 3-2, Harrogate’s goalkeeper Tom Dunne made a stunning save before two drag-flicks from captain Clemerson wrapped up the win.

The away side did manage to grab a late consolation goal but it was too little, too late to make any difference to the outcome of the match.

Elsewhere, newly-promoted Harrogate Ladies 1st XI followed up last weekend’s opening-day success over Liverpool Sefton with a point from their Women's Conference North showdown with Wakefield.

The contest was evenly matched and competitive throughout with ‘Gate producing some good attacking hockey against opponents who finished second in the division last term.

At the other end of the pitch, home keeper and player of the match Coral Langridge also impressed, making some excellent saves.

Harrogate went 1-0 up in the second quarter following a fine sequence of one-touch passes between Rosie Dale and Harriet Payne, who found captain Lucy Wood to finish with a disguised shot into the bottom right-hand corner.

Wakefield came out fighting after half-time and managed to get back on terms courtesy of a tap-in after a counter-attack.

In the final quarter, Payne appeared to have restored the ‘Gate lead when she fired home from a neat short-corner routine, however her effort was controversially disallowed.

“This was a good point for us, but we are disappointed not to win,” skipper Wood reflected.

This Saturday, Harrogate’s Men’s 1s visit top-of-the-table Lindum (1.30pm), while the ‘Gate Ladies 1s travel to Durham University 2s.