Mens 2's
Matches
Sat 14 Nov 2015  ·  Sussex Division 1
East Grinstead Men's 3s
1
2
Crawley Hockey Club
Mens 2's
J Murphy (20'), J Fuller (50')
Crawley edge tight game against local rivals

Crawley edge tight game against local rivals

Chris Rockingham16 Nov 2015 - 09:04
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Crawley beat EG 2-1

Sussex Division One
East Grinstead (3's) 1 - 2 Crawley(2's)

It was a huge game for both teams that could potentially be an early relegation decider. Crawley welcomed back Chris White, Josh Haworth and James Murphy back to the fold and looked to continue their run of strong performances and turn them into results. The stakes were high and from the start a high tempo was set by both teams. With the slicker passing and moves coming from East Grinstead but Crawley countering with excellent pressing and defensive nous to shut East Grinstead out.

The game continued at a fast pace and chances came to both teams. East Grinstead were the first to convert one of there chances finally beating the Keeper with a scrappy goal.

Crawley did not let there heads dip and continued to press and then break. After forcing a short corner, James Fuller took charge at the top of the D after a scrappy stop and flicked it at the goal only for it to be going wide until James Murphy to deflect the ball back on target and past the keeper to draw Crawley level, which it stayed at until half time.

Crawley did not want to settle for the point and won another short corner and a set routine paid off and James Fuller swept it home to the delight of everyone. East Grinstead bench protested that the ball did not go outside the "D" despite the umpire actually being about 40m closer and with a better view!

This goal caused a batten down the hatches mentality from Crawley who lost impetus and East Grinstead pressed hard and were kept out by a resolute defence and great saves. East Grinstead started to get a bit nasty in there challenges and Russell Hales bore the brunt of a physical challenge with 2 mins to go. With that short time left in mind Alex Coote and Chris Rockingham worked the ball into the corner to kill time and despite East Grinstead eventually getting the ball back, time was gone as the umpires blew for full time and Crawley celebrated a huge victory.

Captain Chris Rockingham commented afterwards "It was a really close game that could have gone either way. East Grinstead have a lot of talented young players and you have to be very disciplined when playing against them. We always remained positive and was great to see that throughout. We need to continue with this type of performances and look to move up the table."

MOM - Chris White
DOD - Kane Paterson

Match details

Match date

Sat 14 Nov 2015

Kickoff

10:00

Meet time

08:45

Instructions

8.45am meet at the club for a 10am push at EG. Playing in red. £3 match fees. Confirm availability asap.

Competition

Sussex Division 1
Team overview
Further reading