Crawley 2s 3 - 5 Horsham 3s

Crawley 2s 3 - 5 Horsham 3s

Crawley went into this game with a real mix match of players due to a wedding in the afternoon and to ensure that all the games went ahead then the game had to be moved to 10.30am. Crawley spoke about discipline and possession as they knew these would be key to the final outcome of the game.

The game started with Crawley dominating all of the possession and spending most the first 10 minutes in the Horsham half. They struggled to covert any chances and ultimately turn them into goals. Horsham then had a break down the left hand side and with an obvious foot being missed the Crawley players stopped allowing Horsham to tap in a simple goal. This annoyed Crawley and Horsham capitalised on this by being awarded a dubious PS which to see the goalkeeper White sin-binned for 5 minutes and a lack of discipline form the forward Kieran Fuller saw him be yellow carded and would not be allowed to return to the pitch for 20 minutes. Horsham converted the resulting PS and used the time when Crawley were down to 9 to really pile on the pressure. They saw their lead increase to 4-0 before the break.

Captain Chris Rockingham got the players in and spoke about a positive start to the half and how Crawley had the potential to get back into this game. They listened and after some constant pressure they won a Short Corner which Kieran Fuller (having returned to the pitch) flicked into the bottom right of the goal. Crawley then got a second through a Kieran Fuller Short Corner but this time he took it round 2 defenders before expertly finishing. Then a rare mistake by Russell Hales saw him pass the ball straight to their centre forward to leave a 2 on 1 vs Berry at Centre back to make the score 5-2. This didn't stop Crawley who continued to pressure and the third goal came from a misdirected injection on a Penalty corner for James Fuller to smash the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal. The score remained at 5-3 when the final whistle went.

Rockingham commented afterwards "Having 9 players for 5 minutes and 10 players for most of the first half cost us the game today. I think 20 minutes off the pitch was slightly harsh and did have a major impact on the game. We have had a tough first half of the season so far but I know the players will respond going forward and make a big difference come January. We have one game left before the festive break and I expect all the players to give everything to get those 3 points"

Team: Chris White, Ollie Robinson, Ian Berry, James Fuller, Alex Coote, Russell Hales, Rob Gate, Brendan Maccaolite, Josh Haworth, Dan Burnham, Kieran Fuller, Johnny Lewis-Brown, Chris Rockingham

MOTM: Alex Coote
DOTD: Russell Hales