Crawley 2’s 8-1 Southwick 2’s

After two matches where Crawley have conceded in the first couple of minutes, they were determined for it not to happen again. Crawley pressed hard from the off and were quickly rewarded with a short corner, and after the initial strike, the ball fell to Theo Hillman, who tucked the ball away on his reverse. Crawley did not stop there with some incisive running and passing. With Theo Hillman making a lovely dash to the near post, for Alex Coote to find him with a firm pass, so he could deflect the ball past the keeper. Before he knew it, Theo had his Hattrick, with another short corner falling nicely to him after a strike which he again tapped in.

Southwick struggled to deal with Crawley, and whilst showed spirit, are bottom of the table for a reason. Thomas Mackintosh artfully won another short corner, which Kane Paterson coolly converted. Another short corner followed with Matt Park on hand to again tap in after a save from the keeper. Then after a bursting run into the “D” Scott Gibbons unselfishly squared the ball to Theo, who had an open goal to tap it in. 6-0 at Half Time.

After half time a different Crawley mindset appeared, with too many individuals trying to do too much with ball and abandoned the passing game of the first half and the clinical finishing disappeared.

Southwick exerted a bit of pressure, but Priyesh Patel and Ian Berry, at the heart of the defence kept their chances to a minimum and Simon Teale was his usual consistent self. However Southwick capitalised on Crawley puzzlement at an umpire decision and broke quickly, far outnumbering the Crawley defence and scored. Crawley almost instantly retorted though with Kane Paterson burying a reverse strike from the left side of the “D”.

Crawley still struggled to get back to how they played in the first half, and Chris Rockingham had to make a few saves. Oliver Robinson came on upfront to try and mix it up, but to no avail. Ian Berry even tried to get on the scoresheet on his birthday but his shot was blocked. The surging runs of Ryan Banton were sadly ignored and Crawley seemed like they would not get another goal, with Scott Mansfield finding great positions but unable to convert.

Theo Hillman fittingly though had the last say of the match, when the ball fell to him at the top of the Southwick “D” and he smashed it on his reverse into the bottom left corner of the goal. Final score 8 – 1.

Team:

Chris Rockingham, Simon Teale, Olly Robinson, Priyesh Patel, Matt Park, Ian Berry, Scott Mansfield, Liam Mulcalhy, Ryan Banton, Alex Coote, Kane Paterson, Scott Gibbons, Thomas Mackintosh, Theo Hillman.

Scorers:
Theo x 5
Kane x 2
Matt x 1