Chard 3rds arranged a friendly with Taunton Vale 5ths to keep their players fit.

With a break in the half term league fixture coming up next weekend, and neither team in league action this week, it proved the perfect opportunity.

The game was competitive but played in good spirit by both sides.

Taunton Vale's keeper had to pull out at the last minute, so Paul Bradshaw, the father of Chard's keeper Luke and a goalkeeping coach for Chard, took his place.

This left the visitors with just 11 players, so, in the spirit of the friendly, Gary Wheaton switched sides to provide them with a substitute.

Chard started strong, with Joel Handscomb, Isaac Parris, and Ollie Bartlett, supported by Flynn Bowie, putting pressure on the Vale defence.

Bradshaw senior made a couple of saves but couldn't stop Isaac Parris's close-range follow-up to a Handscomb effort, putting Chard 1-0 up.

For much of the first half, Chard dominated midfield exchanges, with Ben Berryman being both calming and influential, and they posed the greater scoring threat.

As half-time approached, Vale began to attack, and Chard's defence had a couple of narrow escapes, with Luke Bradshaw making timely saves to maintain the one-goal advantage.

Chard soon got their reward for their earlier pressure when Alan Cheffey scored from a penalty corner.

In the final quarter, Chard extended their lead further.

Berryman's initial shot was blocked, the ball fell to Bartlett, who passed it to Parris for a simple far post tap in.

Despite more efforts from Bradshaw senior, buoyed by the third goal, Chard played some of their slickest hockey, using both wings well.

However, with two minutes remaining, Vale managed to score a consolation goal.

Thanks were given to umpires Trevor Goss and Claire Winter for officiating the match.