SWINDON Hockey Club Men's first XI drew 1-1 with Cardiff Metropolitan A in a fiesty Verde Recreo Premier League affair in south Wales last weekend.

Swindon travelled to Cardiff to face a university team full of energy, commitment and pace, but building on recent good form Swindon were confident and prepared for the tie.

The first half saw the students have a handful of decent efforts on goal as well as some strong attacking play which was well defended by the Swindon backline throughout, but it remained at 0-0 at the whistle.

In the half-time team talk from skipper Tom Goldsmith, he asked for continued effort and commitment to ensure the team would come away with a result.

The match continued to see Cardiff press hard and attack quickly, but again the Swindon defence stood firm.

The opportunity to counter-attack remained a possibility throughout, and quick balls from the back gave the visitors' forwards some great opportunities which were scrambled away by the students.

With just over twelve minutes of the match remaining, it was Cardiff who went in front thanks to a wonderful individual goal.

With Swindon on the back foot, cards came for both teams. A messy end to proceedings would not see the visitors denied, however.

With five minutes remaining, a huge aerial pass from Rob Riddell found Henry Cheney on the left. Cheney exchanged passes with Thomas Lentschner after seeing the defence split, and Cheney was able to round the goalkeeper before slotting home a precious equaliser.

The final few minutes of the match saw Swindon have three great chances in the Cardiff’s area, but the final touch wasn’t there and the attacks were scrambled away by the students to keep the visitors at bay. 

In other matches, Swindon Ladies’ second XI lost 2-1 away at Corsham while the Men’s third XI pulled off a strong 2-1 win away at Chippenham.

The wintry weather conditions impacted the scheduled games for Swindon Hockey Club last weekend with the Ladies first XI match against Falmouth, and the Men’s second XI game against Marlborough both being postponed due to storm Arwen.