Mens 1's vs Canterbury Pilgrims

Kent Sussex 1

Crawley Mens 1's 1 vs 0 Canterbury Pilgrims

Crawley Mens first team traveled away to Canterbury for their first test since promotion last season. They knew it would be a good pointer to the way the season may go against a Canterbury team that are well established in the league.

It was going to prove to be a very tight game from start to finish with in the early stages both teams playing free flowing hockey there was chances at both ends. Both sides seemed a little nervous and both looked as if they wanted to get 3 points on the board early on in the season. There was alot of joy for Crawley down both flanks with space for the forwards to run into the channels and he midfield getting forward quickly to help support the play it seemed only a matter of time before Crawley took the lead. First big chance of the half came for Fuller when an Arial out from the back by Canterbury went straight to Seb Watson who squared for Fuller but he was stopped by a tackle on the edge of the area by the home keeper. But a break through soon followed after good work in the area by Reece Banton to win a short corner which was converted by Fuller after the first shot was saved. 1-0 Crawley. Canterbury didnt seem to have many ideas going forward and the defence were keeping their shape well and breaking up as many attacks as they could. There was one last chance before the half was out after some good work down the left the ball was played across goal and with the keeper no where to be seen it was left to Gate to try to turn the ball in but he couldn't get low enough and a glorious chance went begging.

The second half was much the same as the first with Crawley playing some lovely one and two touch hockey which nearly resulted in Maccaoilte scoring what would have been a contender for goal of the season but he couldn't quite get enough on the shot. But with 15 or so mins left in the match Crawley found themselves with two players in the sin bin and a Canterbury side who were flooding men forward in search of the equalizer but Crawley managed to hold out and still looked very dangerous on the counter attack with a number of Crawley players through on goal but not quite finding the killer touch to beat the keeper. With a coupe of chances for either side the game was coming to a close Westwood making a couple of saves to make sure Crawley won and got their first clean sheet of the season.

Captain Alex Watson said" It was a wonderful effort from us today. We know this would be a tough game we played them a few years ago before they got promoted they are a very physical side and play some very good basic hockey. We knew we would have to progress from the pre season games and i feel we did. The defense was excellent today and kept Canterbury to a minimum amount of shots on goal but when they did they found Westers in excellent form. It was a very good determind win for us and its good to get off the mark early we know it will be a tough league there are some very good sides in here but we feel on our day we can give anyone a game."

Team

Jamie Westwood, Adrian Bettesworth, Mark Brightwell, Baz Ahmedi, Alex Watson(c), Carl Wright, Brendan Maccaoilte, Rob Gate, Seb Watson, Kieran Fuller, Reee Banton

Subs

Hasan Yousaf