Tunbridge Wells 6 - 4 Crawley

Crawley were the form side going into this fixture having won their first 2 games and Tunbridge Wells losing theirs. However the home side took the lead after 1 minute as a hard 50 yard pass into the right hand side of the D was deflected past Westwood on a tight angle leaving Crawley bewildered. Tunbridge Wells continued at this pace and one of their strikers got into the left side of the circle firing a bobbling shot past Westwood. 2-0. Shortly after this another Tunbridge Wells attack resulted in a goal and Crawley were 3-0 down after 15 minutes with a huge mountain to climb if they were to get back into the game. The pace slowed and Crawley were able to get a hold on the game and build attacks and put pressure on their opposite numbers. Shortly before half time a shot from Seb Watson was stopped on the line by a defender's foot and a penalty stroke awarded. Kieran Fuller stepped up and slotted home to claw one back.

The second half started with real intent from the away side and a defensive error left Steve Innes 1 on 1 with the keeper and he fired home into the bottom left corner to half the deficit to just 1 goal. However the pace and end to end nature of the game meant it became fragmented as both teams were chasing back and forth. Tunbridge Wells were able to capitalise on this and scored 2 quick goals to take the score to 5-2. Crawley did not back down and skipper Alex Watson managed to win a short corner for his side after a clumsy tackle from the defender inside the circle. The defenders broke early from this corner and had one player sent to the half way line, a change of plan from Keith Frimley on the side exploited this and a well worked routine found Adrian Bettesworth on the back post with a deft touch past the defender to make it 5-3. Crawley continued their pressure but Mark Brightwell was judged to have intentionally tripped his opponent and received a yellow card and 5 minutes in the sin bin as a result. A quick attack supplied Kieran Fuller with a shooting chance in the circle who calmly took the ball onto his reverse side and fired a tomahawk past the floundering keeper to take the visitors within 1 goal again. Against the run of play Tunbridge Wells won a short corner and fired a slow but accurate drag flick into the bottom left corner to finish the game.

Coach Keith Frimley spoke after the game, "Tunbridge Wells started so well and we were caught napping. To have come back from 3-0 down and get it back to 3-2 and 5-4 showed great fight and character from the team but we still have a lot to work on if we are to stay near the top of this league."

Complete Tyre Services Man of the Match: Kieran Fuller
DOD: Jamie Westwood

Squad:
Jamie Westwood (GK)
Baz Ahmedi
Adrian Bettesworth
Mark Brightwell
Alex Watson (C)
Carl Wright
Rob Gate
Brendan Maccaoilte
Seb Watson
Kieran Fuller
Reece Banton
Steve Innes
James Innes
Hasan Yousaf