HAUTLIEU Hockey Club’s dominance in the Jersey Men’s Hockey Association League Division II continues, and they were barely inconvenienced in their match against the OV Veterans while the veterans in the Hockey Club’s Lions team found the going tough against the younger and – let’s face it – fitter Crusaders.

In Division I it was ‘as you were’, with Convicts and Gobis winning again, Convicts still topping the table but Gobis, with two games in hand, looking dangerous.JHC Gobis 12, OV Victims 1: Gobis continued their good form with another impressive victory, sweeping OV Victims aside.Ali Hall again converted five goals as Gobis displayed the kind of passing hockey that they have been striving for all season.

It was the short corner routine that did the initial damage, with Ed Daubeney hitting with some real power.Roger Le Maistre in the Victims’ goal made good saves from these initial shots, but Gobis reacted the quicker of the two teams to pick up the loose balls.

Such was the force of these shots that Le Maistre took an injury to his hand and was replaced in goal by Garret O’Brien.Despite that, Gobis were still able to find the back of the net and Matt Banahan, in particular, had a good game, converting two short corners, drag flicking each either side of the ‘keeper.Victims fought well throughout the game and were rewarded with the opening goal of the second half, but that was not a sign of any reversal in the pattern of play.

Evolution OV Convicts 6, JHC Thornbacks 1: JHC Thornbacks called upon all their experience to cause the younger Evolution OV Convicts side a few headaches and, indeed, could have taken the lead after ten minutes when Adrian Heelis fired home, but the umpire had already signalled a penalty corner.As the game went on, Convicts began to look increasingly dangerous and opened up a three goal lead when Rich Finch converted two penalty corners from the edge of the circle and Robin Le Quesne deflected another over the Thornbacks’ keeper.Paul Marshallsay added Convicts’ fourth before the interval, following some incisive passing from their midfield, and leaving Thornbacks with a mountain to climb in the second half.Thornbacks, though, continued to battle and scored from a penalty corner from Heelis before Convicts completed a 6-1 victory with a second goal from Le Quesne and a third penalty corner strike from Finch.Division II – Hautlieu HC 7, OV Vets 0: Hautlieu dominated from the first whistle, scoring twice within the first 15 minutes through Nathan Maguire.Shortly after that, Hautlieu won a penalty corner which was converted by a clean strike by Adam Smith through the goalkeeper’s legs.Further work and good passing from the Hautlieu side set Luke Maguire up for two goals of his own and the 5-0 half-time score demonstrated that Hautlieu were clearly on top.The second half was much more even.

It was OV Vets who had the early opportunities, winning several penalty corners, but they were not quite able to score.

They had missed their chance to get back into the game; Craig Morrison scored another for Hautlieu and Luke Maguire completed his hat-trick ten minutes from the final whistle, to seal their victory.Crusaders 2, JHC Lions 0: With four regular players, including goalscorer Martin Le Boutillier, missing, Crusaders were compensated by the return of Marcus Cooper, Matthew Burrow and Miles Landick.

Lions’ line-up, meanwhile, included the JHA president and former Jersey captain Malcolm Banahan.The first half was evenly contested, but Crusaders took the lead when Paul Le Bihan picked up the rebound from a Simon Garton shot and calmly slotted home.Minutes later Crusaders’ short corner conversion was disallowed as dangerous while Lions’ opportunities to equalise were also missed, including a short corner shot from Banahan who found ‘keeper Steve Duffy in cracking form.Burrow came on for the second half and his success at cutting off Lions’ attacks and defence-splitting passes meant Crusaders dominated.Lions’ experienced defence – Ralph Nichols, Dick Gallichan and Glyn Curtis – were kept busy and had an excellent game, holding out until the last five minutes, when Garton scored his second, from close range, for a 2-0 win.Umpires: Nigel Poole and Tony Ray.