Mens 2s lose to an organised Penguins side

Penguins 1st XI 4 - 1 Crawley 2nd XI

Crawley went into this game on the back of two victories (cup and league) and were looking to continue this form against a strong Penguins side at Angmering School. The team welcomed back James Innes, Ian Berry and Gary Marlow from a sense the week before.

Both teams started well with pressure being applied in both final thirds but couldn't really get that decisive shot away to trouble either goal. The first real chance of the game came from a nice Crawley move which saw Gary Marlow through one on one and going to round the keeper where he was fouled inside the D but the umpires played the advantage only to see Marlow miss the vacant net on the reverse and from a tight angle. This woke penguins up and they then got the first goal of the game through a good team move. They got a second just before half time when a hopeful ball from the centre back beat all of the Crawley players to leave a two on one against Crawley.

Crawley spoke at half time about playing simple hockey and movement off the ball. Crawley responded and within 5 minutes had the goal they needed. A good move down the left hand side of the pitch saw the ball played majestically passed the keeper for a simple tap in at the back post for Dan Burnham. Crawley continued to build on this looking for the equaliser and committing bodies forward. This left gaps at the back and required the best out of Chris White in goal with a number of high quality saves. The best was a double save low to his left and right. The continued pressure by Crawley saw some good saves from their keeper but Penguins 3rd goal came from a break, with Crawley down to 10 men as Burnham was in the sin bin, where a good initial save from Chris White could only see the ball fall to a vacant penguins player to slot home. Crawley didn't let their heads dropped and had a number of penalty corners but were unable to convert them. Penguins final goal came with a few minutes to go when a break away saw a penguins player fouled inside the D by keeper White and a Penalty stroke was awarded. The stroke was converted to show a harsh score line for the visitors.

Captain Chris Rockingham commented saying " we put in a good shift today but were unable to convert chances and keep our composure when decisions went against us. We know we are good enough to beat any side in this league on our day and need to work on being more clinical in front of goal. We play Lewes at home next week who got relegated into our league so know it will be tough but we are positive about getting a result"

Team: White, Rockingham (c), Berry, Fuller, Paterson, Coote, Innes, Murphy, Hillman, Marlow, Haworth, Robinson, Burnham
MOTM: Chris White
DOTD: Dan Burnham