Mens 1's vs Ashford 1's

Kent Sussex 1

Crawley Mens 1's 1 vs 2 Ashford 1's

Crawley came into the weekend looking to secure another 3 points which could become crucial later on in the season against an Ashford side unbeaten in the league.

It was Crawley who started much the brighter of the two sides and for the first 10 minutes the visitors couldn't get out of their own half. Crawley had good chances to score a goal from a number of deflections but Banton, Gate and Fuller all failed to test the keeper from close range. It seemed to only be a matter of time but Crawley kept coming up short with the final pass or the final shot. The visitors didnt have ball until much later in the half and should probably been 2 or 3 down by then. Ashford were struggling to get out of their own half or create many chances as the defence for Crawley held firm and seemingly broke down all that was thrown at them . Crawley played the majority of the half playing excellent hockey but couldnt find a way past the visiting keeper and there was time for Seb Watson to have a couple of chances also but found the keeper in fine form yet again.
The second half started out much the same and Crawley found a break through from a Fuller short corner which beat the keeper to make it 1-0 Crawley. There didnt seem too much danger from the opposition except from short corners which Crawley manged to control them well. it wasnt until half way through the second half that crawley found themselves under a constant pressure and found themselves level as an ashford forward managed to deflect the ball past westwood into the net. 1-1. Ashford then manged to get themselves a stroke as the ball hit Baz Ahmedi on the line and the umpires gave a penalty stroke which ashford scored to make it 2-1. Crawley had two chances to level as Steve Innes missed a ball over the top and then Fuller hit the post with a short corner but the score remained the same.

Captain Alex Watson said"It was a difficult result to take today as we played them off the park for long periods today but it just wasnt our day in front of goal. On another day it could have been 4 or 5 at half time and game over. They struggled with our passing and pace in the first half. We played well enough to have got something out of the game but it wasnt to be. We need to compose ourselves now and bounce back against what will be a tough opponent next week".

Team

Jamie Westwood, Adrian Bettesworth, Hasan Yousaf, Baz Ahmedi, Alex Watson(c), Carl Wright, Brendan Maccaoilte, Rob Gate, Seb Watson, Kieran Fuller, Reece Banton

Subs

James Innes, Steve Innes, Mark Brightwell