The West Wilts first team. From right: back row, Dave Yalland, Will Powell, Robert Kerr-Bonner, Nathan Hutchings, Olly Goddard, Matt Kenyon; front row, Phil Jeffreys, Martin Allsop, James Baker, Ben Hutchins, Dan Sheppard, Luke Sheppard, Captain Dave Jeffreys.

North Bristol 2, West Wilts 5

CAPTAIN Dave Jeffreys paid tribute to his players after his West Wilts team clinched back-to-back promotions.

A year after gaining a place in North Division One, West Wilts have won promotion to Premier Division Three.

Jeffreys said: "It was always going to be tough having gained promotion into the North One Division last year. However, over the season we have gone from strength to strength, playing some brilliant hockey and fought extremely hard in such a tight league to gain back-to-back promotion.

"This is due to the hard work, commitment and dedication of everybody involved with the team; of whom I am very proud.

"We never gave up and that team spirit carried us through."

West Wilts started their final league game with conviction and a desire to finish the season on a high, and they didn't have to wait long for their first goal, which came courtesy of Will Powell after five minutes.

Some good attacking play opened up the North Bristol defence and Powell was on hand to slot the ball home in spite of the goalkeeper's best efforts.

Despite the early lead and sustained pressure on the home side's goal, West Wilts had to wait until the closing stages of the half to add to their lead.

Nathan Hutchings seized the ball on the edge of the D before releasing a rocket of a shot through a crowd of players to make it 2-0.

A couple of minutes later Dave Yalland, who had earlier seen a shot come back off the post, made no mistake in front of goal to make it 3-0.

With the rain abating West Wilts started to relax and small mistakes crept into their game. The goals, however, continued to flow. The fourth and Powell's second was a simple but highly effective set piece from the left flank. Allsop delivered a beautiful cross for Powell to finish past a helpless keeper. Shortly after this a defensive error gave North Bristol an easy tap-in.

Man-of-the-match Jeffreys will, however, be pleased by the number of goals - 15 in four games - his side have scored in recent weeks.

Dave Yalland brought his total of league goals to 21 this season after a neat pass from Olly Goddard put him through to beat the goalkeeper to make it 5-1.

Against any other team in the league Wilts would have reached double figures but the home side's goalkeeper made some incredible saves.

In the closing minutes North Bristol continued to attack and their persistence was rewarded with another goal to make it 5-2.

11:03am Tuesday 18th March 2008

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