The Isle of Man’s under-18 and under-14 boys teams got their respective campaigns underway in the England Hockey Junior Championships on Sunday.

Both sides faced Preston, with the younger age group coming away with a 7-1 victory thanks to goals from Adam Ellis (2), Theo Robertson (2), Chris Crompton-Heavey, Jean Visser and Ryan Cartwright.

The under-18s were also involved in a high-scoring match, but on this occasion it was the Lancashire outfit that came away with the win 7-3.

The first five minutes showcased two strong sides, with some meaningful attacks and well set defensive units.

However, as the weather got worse, the island side struggled to maintain its formation, leading to two slippery goals from Preston after the first 15 minutes.

Shortly after, the boys heads were held high, Kyle Gunnion made a dangerous dribble into the D, upgrading the attack to the first short corner of the game, which Douglas Quayle managed to put away with a straight drag to leave the score at 2-1 in Preston’s favour.

The islanders looked to pick up the standard again, but Preston worked two good goals before the 30th minute to give them a commanding 4-1 lead.

In the last play of the half, the Manx worked another good short corner, the Preston keeper initially making a good save, which left the ball at Quayle’s feet. He managed to put away the loose ball for his second goal of the game.

As the rain got worse, both teams began to struggle, and Preston caught the island side out on a quick counter-attack within the first five minutes of the second half.

This made the score 6-2 early on in the period.

With multiple attacks back and fourth from both teams, Preston managed to strike again within the last 10 minutes of the game.

Despite the scoreline, the islanders continued to work well as a team and forced another short corner in the final five minutes, which Taverner worked really well around the first two runners before putting it in the back of the net as the game ended 7-3 in Preston’s favour.

Will Wiseman was named the Isle of Man’s man of the match thanks to some really good distribution working forwards out from the back, a goal line save and overall hard work and dedication - with a full 70 mins on the pitch.

Thanks go to the side’s sponsor OAK Group.

- Disappointingly the opposition for the Isle of Man’s under-16 boys, u18 and u16 girls all conceded their fixtures. The u14 girls received a bye.

All the Manx teams will now go into to the draw this week for the next round of fixtures on November 9.

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