GRIT, character and nous were harnessed by Acomb Hockey Club men’s I to glean a creditable four points out of a possible six from a weekend brace of Yorkshire League division four games.

Away to Bradford University, Acomb’s team had an average age of something like 35 or more against a team of 20-year-old students.

Bradford had the majority of possession but could not take any of their chances, while man of the match Paul Kellett at sweeper subdued the home threat.

Acomb caught Bradford a few times on the hop and showed up the hosts’ lack of experience.

In one instance, Dave Timmins and Pete Hilton had a Bradford player like a headless chicken as they calmly one-two’ed the ball between them and walked it up the pitch.

With ten minutes to go, a melee in the ‘D’ enabled Ryan Forster to smash the ball home.

The visitors then weathered the Uni pressure for a valuable three points.

Next up was a re-arranged Sunday clash against more students, this time from York University II.

The Uni side came at Acomb quickly, probably even more than Acomb could have expected and took an early lead.

But from then on Acomb worked their socks off.

Newcomer Paul Wicker’s great game in the middle of the park was capped by several solid tackles, while Matt Dickenson distributed the ball excellently.

A fluent attack fired Acomb to parity, Forster getting his second goal of the weekend at the back post.

Inspired by man of the match, Baz Whitfield, Acomb should have stretched their advantage from a series of short corners, but the game finished all-square and Acomb were well-pleased with their weekend’s endeavours.

There was no game for Acomb men’s II.