The Isle of Man national men’s B squad played their second game in the EH Hockey Tier Three Vase knockout competition on Saturday.

Their opponents were Stoke-based Triton 1s who were potentially more difficult than Golbourne and Prescott 2s who the Manx defeated 6-1 in the previous round.

After a delay with the boat, the game started with the IoM having no chance to warm up, so the first 10 minutes were used to find their feet and gel as a team playing together for only the second time this year.

Despite this, they were under little pressure early on as centre-backs Neil Crowe and Liam Taverner shut down any Triton attacks and keep the game controlled and calm as the Manx side grew into the contest.

As they gained confidence, the IoM players were able to mount several attacks, getting into Triton’s half thanks leading passes from Archie Caley in attacking midfield and Stevie Ronan at wing-back.

Somewhat against the run of play, Triton grabbed a goal from a short corner, giving them a 1-0 lead.

The island went close to evening it up on a number of occasions, with Andy Harding causing problems by winning short corners that were unable to be put away.

At half-time the score was 1-0 to Triton but after the break the islanders knew what they had to do and were unfazed by the task as they knew the game was well within their reach.

It didn’t take long for the Isle of Man to level the score when a well-worked piece of play saw Ethan Adams force the keeper into making a panicked save which fell into the path of Ronan Santanatoglia who was able to neatly deflect the ball into the net.

From here the play was all Isle of Man and, while Triton were able to mount a couple of attacks down the left, these were all shut down by Harding who then launched attacks of his own.

It was on one of these that the Manx found their second goal, the ball falling to Dougie Quayle who sent a tomahawk pass towards the back post which was put away by a sliding Chris Whiting who was able to give the island a 2-1 lead.

The game now felt as though a victory for the Isle of Man was inevitable and it didn’t take long for them to double their advantage as another well-worked piece of team play saw Ethan Adams able to get on the scoresheet with a good finish to put them 3-1 up.

After a piece of scrappy play, Triton were able to pin one back to make the score 3-2 which came against the run of play after some confusion at the back.

They created a few more chances to tie it up but goalkeeper Sam Spooner held firm and denied any chances as the Manx side weathered the storm.

Eventually, Triton’s overzealous attack was their downfall. Alfie Swales was able to pick off the ball at the back and march up the field before giving it off to captain John Verrall who drew the keeper off his line before a great square pass to George Ratcliffe who gave the island a 4-2 lead with only two minutes left to play.

The Isle of Man almost grabbed another late on but hit the post after a shot from a difficult angle.

At full-time the islanders had recorded a hard-fought 4-2 victory which sees them advance to the next round of the knockout competition.

Wing-back Harding was voted player of the game for a fantastic display which saw him involved both in attack and defence.