By Harry Tovey
USW men’s hockey 1sts captain John Lowrie was in buoyant mood after his side overcame Bristol in a seven-goal thriller.
The hosts ran out 4-3 winners in this BUCS Western Premier Tier 3 clash – the perfect riposte after a 3-2 defeat to Cardiff Met last week.
Lowrie said: “We showed how good we were as we had to battle this afternoon to get a result.
“We made hard work of it at times, but the most important thing is we managed to get the result.
“This is a massive confidence booster for the boys but we did make hard work of it at times.”
Umpires Bob Fleck and Sue Morley gave out three green cards in the second-half, with one going to USWs Ellis Tootile.
Lowrie said: “I wouldn’t say it helped us with them having a player on the bench for a couple of minutes, but it definitely opened up the pitch a lot more for us.
Pic: Ben Thomas
“We could see they were getting frustrated with some of the calls the umpires were making.
“This made it easier to win the ball and take control of the game.”
Up next for USW 1sts is another home encounter as they welcome Swansea University to the Sport Park.
Lowrie said: “They have had a good start to the season from the results I’ve seen.
“If that’s anything to go by it will probably be the same level of competitiveness as this week against Bristol.
“It could be a lot harder game as we haven’t yet faced them, but we should have enough to get past them.”