Hat-trick for Hales as City of Peterborough win a National Final at Olympic venue
Gary Hales hit a hat-trick as City of Peterborough won the National Vase Over 45s final at the Olympic hockey venue in Lee Valley.
City beat Kent-based Old Williamsons 6-3 in a stormy encounter over the Bank Holiday weekend.
Old Williamsonians flew out the blocks and scored within two minutes when a ball put across the face of goal was tapped in at the far post.
But Coty knew they had the firepower to recover and they soon equalised through Hales and they took the lead soon afterwards when Gareth Andrew netted with a drag flick from a short corner.
In the second quarter City extended their lead via a delightful dink over the keeper from Andrew. Old Williamsonians then started to lose their head and put in some heavy tackles, one of which led to a card that got extended to a 10 minute yellow thanks to back chat to the umpire.
In the third quarter City found themselves with a 2-player advantage as Old Williamsonians were given a green card for a stick tackle, but they wasted opportunities and took their foot off the pedal and conceded a short corner goal.
At the start of the fourth quarter Old Williamsonians were awarded another penalty corner which they scored to make it 3-3, but an expert deflection of a crashed ball into the D from Hales put City back in front.
Andrew then set up Andrew ‘Flash’ Fletcher for a well-taken goal before Hales sealed the win and his hat-trick.