ON Saturday Greenock Morton Hockey Club Men’s 1st XI came away from a must-win away match at Aberdeen Grammar with a well-deserved three points, taking them out of the bottom two for the Christmas break.

Greenock went into the match with near enough a full strength squad, which was also boosted by the arrival of last year’s top goalscorer Ben Peterson, whose transfer back from Dutch side VMHC Pollux was confirmed on Friday.

Peterson showed his quality within the first three minutes when he opened the scoring from a penalty corner – picking the ball up at the top of the ‘D’ before driving straight at goal, evading the onrushing defenders and slotting into the bottom corner.

Confidence was high amongst the Greenock side and they continued to create a number of excellent chances.

In particular they managed to win a handful of penalty corners, though they weren’t quite as clinical as they had been in recent weeks.

At the other end of the pitch the Greenock back four of Ryan Neilson, David Brown, Michael O’Hara and Jack McNelis were defending solidly – making numerous key interceptions and tackles. At times however their distribution was erratic, leading to a few chances for the home side to equalise, however Greenock ‘keeper Scott Jones made a series of fine saves to keep the lead intact.

Greenock doubled their lead midway through the half when young Fraser Calder grabbed his sixth goal of the season – skilfully bringing down a high cross into the ‘D’, before firing a tremendous half volley into the top corner of the net.

The second half didn’t get off to the greatest of starts for Greenock when Jack McNelis was shown a yellow card for a clumsy challenge.

Aberdeen used their temporary advantage when a misjudged pass in midfield allowed them to break at Greenock, winning a free-hit in a dangerous position.

The marking wasn’t as tight as it should have been, allowing a Grammar attacker time in the ‘D’ to pick out his team-mate on the penalty spot, who in turn slotted into the bottom corner.

Greenock bounced back almost immediately, and it was Peterson again with the goal. This time he found space at the top left hand side of the home side’s ‘D’ to rifle an unstoppable reverse stick strike across the ‘keeper into the top right hand corner.

Again Greenock failed to hold on to their two goal advantage, conceding midway through the half from a penalty corner awarded for a stick tackle in the ‘D’.

Although the initial shot was well blocked by Andrew Leslie, the ball fell kindly to an attacker to fire the ball towards the bottom right hand corner for a team-mate to deflect in on the post.

To the relief of the travelling support, Greenock restored their two goal advantage with ten minutes remaining through Peterson, completing his hat-trick by rounding the home ‘keeper and slotting into the bottom corner from a tight angle.

Greenock held on for a 4-2 win which saw them leapfrog Aberdeen Grammar into 10th place, leaving their opponents in the bottom two for Christmas.

Greenock can now enjoy their Christmas break, and will hopefully enjoy a good indoor campaign before the outdoor season recommences with a home fixture against Granite City Wanderers on the 7th of February.

Greenock Morton Hockey Club would like to thank the travelling support who made the long trip to Aberdeen to cheer on the team, and would also like to thank this weekend’s sponsor, the Connor family.