South Saxons 3's 4 CHC 2's 2

Report by Scott Gibbons

Crawley 2’s travelled to Hastings to play South Saxons with a much changed side from last week.

One of those players; goalkeeper Gary Thornton, kicked off his man-of-the-match performance with a string of fine early saves. The Crawley defence of Jack Mulcahy, Indy Saraw, Nick Bennett and Jonny Rowtcliff were under early pressure when Saxons got onto a rebound from another Thornton save and converted to lead 1-0.

This seemed to spur Crawley into life, Karl Bass and Liam Mulcahy getting the wide players Rob Payne and Hammad Jalal into good areas where they could cause problems. This pressure allowed skipper Scott Gibbons to get space in the D and his strike was saved by the keeper, but only to the lurking James Fuller who made no mistake from close range.

Crawley were on the front foot again, Liam Mulcahy driving into the area drew a blatant back-stick, which the umpire missed. Saxons broke down the other end and left a bewildered Crawley 2-1 down.
The boys in maroon rallied again. Jalal’s persistence allowing Gibbons to dance into the D and unleash an unstoppable rocket into the top corner. Saxons finished the half stronger, Saraw carded for a poor challenge and the hosts capitalised; managing to take the lead again just before half time to lead 3-2.

Crawley were far from their best but the energy of Mattie Fish in the midfield did start to help them in an even contest. Chances fell to both sides but as the game entered the final 15 there was still just one goal in it. Unfortunately a cool head from a Saxons short saw the lead doubled and the game looking beyond Crawley. Despite late efforts by Fuller and a Gibbons hot cleared off the line; there was nothing that they could do to turn the game around.

Crawley host a decent Hailsham side next week, where they hope they can bounce back to winning ways.

Crawley squad: Gibbons, Thornton, Saraw, J Mulcahy, Bennett, Rowtcliff, Fish, L Mulcahy, Jalal, Bass, Payne, Fuller