Match Reports
19/11/05
Chichester Chipmunks 4-1 Men's 6th XI
Scorer: Ollie Arkaah
Fresh from last weeks Battle of Deason Bottom Pitch, the mighty 6's faced the daunting task of an away match with one of the sides level on points with Brighton at the top of the table.
However, the foot soldiers of the 6's had little to fear as our Captain's scouting network had been in overdrive, and a battle plan was hatched on the Will Farr whiteboard. (May be Santa will bring some little coloured magnets this year - ED.) The skipper had found the key ingredient for success - Roasted Chipmunk!!
After an extensive team briefing, Brighton lined up with a 1-2-2-2-3 formation designed to man mark the dangerous Chi forwards and still 'ply ze sexe hoekey' in true Dutch stylie.
Two good teams both settled quickly into the game itself, both sides playing an open, passing game which boardly failed to penetrate well organised defences. In an opening period of few real chances however, Brighton broke the deadlock. Josh was allowed time and space to pick out Ollie, (who recovered sufficiently from chundering on the Friday nights 'sushi') to sweep the ball in on the near post.
The goal prompted a period of Chi posession, but the home sides failure to penetrate Will & Ed's tight man marking left Brighton with the better chances. Tireless work in midfield from Dipak and Myles, and creativity in attack from Howie, Josh and Sam Parkin meant Brighton were unlucky to go into the break only 1-0 up.
Half time proved to be the high point for Brighton, as a well organised, skillful Chichester side gradually took a hold of the game in the 2nd half. Brighton's defence held firm until Ed's pulled hamstring forced a major reorganisation of personnel which proved to be the turning point of the game.
Brighton's makeshift midfield failed to cope with Chi's passing and movement, the home side finally drawing level with a well worked goal from open play. 1-1 quickly became 2-1 with a fine short corner strike.
Despite falling behind, Brighton continued to fight hard, Kumar pulling off a series of good saves and Martin, Will and Sam Williams making several tackles and clearances from the D. In a rare attack, Howie created a gilt edged opportunity to level which was fluffed by Chris but it would have been unfair on the Chipmunks. Brighton's rearguard finally broke in the final 5 minutes when scrambles in the D both resulted in Chi goals and game finished with a slightly unfair 4-1 scoreline.
Don't say this very often, but even though we lost, good umpiring, a sporting attitude from the opposition and 2 sides who wanted to play good hockey made this game a pleasure to participate in. I just hope you're reading this in Portslade.
Ollie's Afro Watch: A tough day for the 'Fro today, Japanese Food clearly didn't help with body and shine. The only remaining question is where those diced carrots came from.