Report by Steve Innes
Crawley hoped to hand top of the league, Herne Bay, their first defeat of the season at Oriel on Saturday, and with the luxury of a 15 man squad went into the game positively.

Crawley started very well and for the first 15/20 minutes had the majority of possession and were winning the ball back high up the pitch. After creating some chances, Crawley could not punish the opposition for playing so deep and making errors at the back caused by the Crawley front line.

Crawley had to change personnel early on due to injuries to Jim Ortyl (elbow) and Kieran Fuller (hand). Herne Bay slowly got back into the game, but they were unable to get into the Crawley area for any real chance.

Crawley then began to pile on more pressure, keeping the ball well around the back and playing the ball down the line towards the forward to seek that opening goal. However, this backfired as Herne Bay won the ball back in midfield and then launched a counter attack, with players out of position and some poor defending Herne Bay were able to pass the ball around Luke Murphy in goal to score the opener on around the 25th minute. The first goal was against the run of play and was Herne Bay’s first attack, knowing this Crawley were eager to respond.

Some great passing from the defence into midfield and down the line straight to the attack to create another chance that Crawley could not convert, Crawley were playing well but Herne Bay were resolute in defence and Crawley were finding it hard to penetrate their defence as the game wore on.

Crawley did manage to win a lot of short corners in the first half. With Kieran Fuller and Johnny Reigate narrowly missing the inside post from straight flicks and Steve Innes creating chances with the left slip option, however, it didn’t look like it was going to be Crawley’s day.
With all these missed chances Herne Bay began to grow in confidence and were managing to string a few passes together. Before the break, the best assist for Herne Bay came in the form of the Crawley Centre Back, Luke Kellaher, who tried an audacious ariel which ended up on the end of the Herne Bay’s forwards stick and was then through one on one with the Crawley keeper which they then converted.

2 down at half time with Crawley being well in the game throughout the half.

Crawley started the second half just as they started the first half, keeping the ball well at the back against the half court press from Herne Bay. Crawley’s defence kept the ball well but the balls down the line were being cut out by the Herne Bay’s midfield, this had obviously been communicated at half time and Herne Bay were stopping Crawley’s game plan which was working so well in the first half.

Plan B was then to utilise the space elsewhere on the pitch, some great runs and picking the ball up in midfield and moving the ball quickly, without managing to create anything clear cut.

As the half went on Crawley went to a back three in search for that allusive goal. This created more space at the back for Herne Bay to exploit.
With 10 minutes to go Crawley were starting to believe they could go on and grab a goal to create a nervous end to the game for Herne Bay this unfortunately created space for the Herne Bay forwards and with a lapse in concentration and a misplaced pass straight to the Herne Bay centre half gave Herne Bay their third goal; a superb bit of skill from the Herne Bay forward, who flicked it up and first time volleyed it into the top left from the edge of the area, a great finish.

Crawley felt as though they played well but didn’t convert the chances created and gave Herne Bay easy finishes for two of their three goals.
Crawley move onto an away fixture against Hailsham next week.
Once again special thanks goes to those home supporters who came to watch a closely contested game of hockey, the support is growing every week and is much appreciated by the Crawley side.

L Murphy, M Brightwell, L Kellaher, J Radoux, J Ortyl, J Innes, B MacCoalite, R Banton, J Reigate, S Innes, K Fuller
Subs - J Lewis-Brown, S Watson, D Evans, W Doherty
MOM – R Banton
DOD – L Kellaher