Ladies Ones
Ladies Ones played away against South Saxons at 12:00pm. The game started and unfortunately within three minutes Clare Bennett took a ball to the head and had a lovely egg-shaped bump meaning she was out for the rest of the game, leaving the ladies with only eleven players. Despite this the ladies fought hard against a fit and skilled team. Some lovely passing in the front line resulted in Kate Baxter scoring a goal, leaving the ladies 1-0 up. Half time whistle blew shortly after which was a relief to the tired side. After some jelly babies and a drink, the ladies went back on to unfortunately concede two goals to South Saxons. The Hastings team were also given two green cards for physical tackles resulting in Sharon McGinley being forced to the floor twice. The ladies worked so hard but we’re unable to put away any more goals. The game ended in a 2-1 loss with player of the match going to Danni Newitt!
Mens Ones
Mens Ones played away against Lewes at 15:00pm. The men secured another win today to make it three wins from three. Another impressive team performance where they had a bulk of the play and created a lot of chances. Hamish Marr scored the opener with a light touch on a Chris Cowen drilled pass to give them a 1-0 lead at half time. James Partridge got the second goal half way through the second half with Jake Flynn scoring two in quick succession late on to put the game to bed at 4-0. A great debut from Rufus Jones in goal with a clean sheet and player of the match went to Chris Cowen.
Ladies Twos
Ladies Twos played away against South Saxons at 13:30pm. The game began with the ladies getting acclimatised to quite a physical opposition. The ladies were excellent at using the transfers of play throughout and switched the ball from left to right with ease. Most of the attacks came down the wings with the forwards and midfields running continuously. Captain Vicky Dennett got the first goal, sending the team into half time with a 1-0 score line. Shortly into the second half, Jen Brough got the second goal, sending the ball flying over everyone's heads and into the net. The final goal came from a short corner, Sadie Ware putting in a great ball which deflected in with an unfortunate own goal. Communication was excellent throughout and substitutions worked really well. Thank you to Cath who came down to support and the ladies ones who stayed to cheer the team on! The ladies won 3-0 with player of the match going to the amazingly talented Tilly Rider-Richardson.
Mens Twos
Mens Twos played at home against Eastbourne at 13:30pm. The Men's 2s who were looking for their first points of the season welcomed their opposition to Beacon astroturf. Crowborough started brightly, with the midfield of Joel Street, Rory Pamphilon, Will Sermon, Albion Ayden and Matt Burns controlling possession and dictating the game with some fluent passing and moving. Borough took the lead after a slick move was finished off by Alex Seath. The Crows continued to dominate for much of the first half, with Eastbourne rarely threatening, but when they did their attacks were snuffed out by the rock-solid defence of Harry Hamilton-Brown, Lyle French and goalkeeper Ollie Stone. The second half started in much the same way, as Borough looked to extend their advantage. Ash Fishenden doubled the lead when the Crows had a short corner well saved by the Eastbourne keeper, but Fishenden was on hand to apply the finish from the rebound. As the game wore on, Eastbourne began to tire and the Crows took full advantage, playing an attractive passing style of hockey, leaving the Eastbourne team unable to lay a stick on the ball for large periods of the game. Seath added his second when Sam Chick picked him out in the D and Seath calmly took a touch before slipping it past the keeper. Borough applied the icing to the cake when Dave Hathaway drilled the ball into Burns in the D, who laid the ball off with a deft touch to Joe Joyce to apply a simple finish. The game finished 4-0 to the home side with Joel Street winning player of the match for epitomising the near perfect team performance.
Ladies Threes
Ladies Threes played at Lingfield against Lewes at 13:30pm. The match against the top of the league was always going to be tough but Crowborough fought hard with several breaks for goal. Eve Taylor, stepping up from Girls Youth Academy, played well in mid field. At halftime the score was 0-1 and everything was to play for. Crowborough hit the ground running in the second half with impressive reverse stick work from Catherine Burns, tenacious play from Caroline Webb in mid field, and two near misses at goal from Amber Valentine and Lucy Gibson. However, Lewes were relentless and Lara Swan, Lisa Marr, Bethy Catling and Becky Ikeson worked flat out to keep the attackers back in general play and during the many defensive short corners. The game ended with a 4-0 loss. The player of the match and hero of the day was Cath Rawlings with repeated impressive saves and an immense penalty save.
Mens Threes
Mens Threes played away against Lewes in a friendly at 16:30pm. Crowborough had 11 players but Lewes were down a goalkeeper, so it was agreed by the captains to play without any. The match that followed was fast and fun with Lewes’ experienced players intermingled with newcomers. Crowborough had more youth and speed on their side, and at halftime the score was 0-3, with goals from James and two from Sam. The second half saw further goals from Ollie and Tim, and, following a tremendous power shot from Nolan, a final goal. The final score was 0-6 but this didn’t really show what a battle the match had been. A big thanks to Lewes for providing the pitch, umpires and an opportunity to foster inter club friendliness and a great chance to put into play what we have been learning at training. Player of the match goes to Graham for giving 100% effort in defence.
Girls Youth Academy
Girls Youth played away against Eastbourne at 10:00pm. The game got off to a great start, the girls dominating the pitch for the first half. The girls were quick on their feet with great tackles and interceptions being made consistently throughout. The forwards worked well as a team, becoming incredibly close multiple times to getting a goal. The midfield did an excellent job at pushing forward and tracking back to help their team. And the defence were magnificent with some seriously impressive tackles. Unfortunately, the girls were unable to score against the opposition's adult keeper and conceded a few well worked goals. The girls lost 4-0 with player of the match going to Emily and Poppy C.
Boys Youth Academy
Boys Youth played at home against Horsham at 12:00pm. The first quarter, the boys took a while to get into the game. However, in the second quarter the whole team woke up in response to Horsham scoring. Half time finished 1-1 after a well worked passing goal beat their adult defender. The third quarter started with some excellent passing and another goal. The fourth quarter saw the boys tire and create some excellent passing moves to move the ball around and create two more goals. The game ended in a 4-1 win with player of the match was shared between Oscar Fulham and Harry Sermon. Goals came from Oscar Fulham and Torin Bosse.