Lisnagarvey's lead at the top of the men’s EY Hockey League stretched out to eight points after their comfortable 5-2 win over Pembroke and Banbridge’s 4-3 success over Monkstown.
For Garvey, Andy Williamson’s hat trick of penalty corner goals made the difference as he put them on the board early in the game. Johnny Lynch added to that before Alan Sothern – who ended the game with 10 goals in four games – got one back but two more from Williamson and one from Daniel Nelson put them out of sight.
That put their lead at eight points on Saturday evening and Monkstown were unable to make any inroads on Sunday as Banbridge’s great start proved just about enough for victory.
They built a 3-1 lead in the first quarter with Philip Brown flicking in two corners to add to Josh Moffett’s goal inside the first 30 seconds.
Owen Magee banged in another for a 4-1 lead with 10 minutes to go before Geoff Cole and Rory Nichols set the nerves jangling but Bann held on for a fifth win in a row.
Corinthian were the other side to register a win as Ian Stewart, Glennn Holmes and Andrew Sutton scored in a 3-1 win at bottom side Annadale.
That success puts them within two points of the top four thanks to seven points from the nine available thus far in 2020.
Glenanne’s date with YMCA was abandoned in the third quarter due to a waterlogged pitch with the score locked at 0-0.
