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3s go joint top after draw at Horsham

3s go joint top after draw at Horsham

Alice Webb5 Nov 2019 - 09:07
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Men's weekend review - Matt Brown celebrates first hat-trick, Rocks drop points

Unbeaten Brighton and Hove men's 3s moved level with Sussex League division one leaders Lewes 2s on Saturday after a 1-1 draw away to Horsham 2, who are a point behind.

The Rocks dropped their first points of the season in division two after going down 3-1 to St Francis 1s but retain top spot.

"The day could not have started in worse way with England capitulating against the might of the South African Springboks," reports skipper Carlo Missirian. "With games being postponed left, right and centre and the weather looking more like a nice afternoon in turned into a nightmare outing in less than favourable conditions.

"A feisty St Francis 1s who clearly wanted to win and beat us... with five or six first choices on half-term duty we just did not have enough over the 70 minutes. Although in their D much more than them, we just weren’t clicking in front of goal and their keeper played exceptionally well with a couple of fine saves especially in the first half.

"We were 3-1 down at half time but with all the new personnel we found it difficult to get any rhythm from the back and our usual patterns of play and accurate passing were simply not there. A few nasty tackles and cards followed for the St Francis players in the second half as we exerted pressure but we could not make the most of the numerical advantage.

"Hopefully we will have a stronger team next week and go back to winning ways."

The 7s moved up to third place in division three after thrashing Crawley 4s 7-0 with a hat-trick from Matt Brown.

Gary Revel-Chion reports: "After a bruising encounter last week it was good to get back to playing proper hockey. The omens weren't good when two of our squad hadn't arrived and we had to start with 10 men.

"Despite this we played some inspired hockey and moved the ball around to great effect. Although we played the whole half a man short, goals from Matt Brown and Atul Patel put us 2-0 up at the break. By the time our last men arrived we were three up through a goal by Chris Lake.

"With 11 men on the pitch we dominated even more and another goal from Atul Patel, two more from Matt Brown and a last from either Gareth Shorrocks or myself (no VAR to decide about the last touch!) made it seven. Congratulations to Matt for his first ever hat-trick. A great team effort and back to winning ways."

All the other men's team's fixtures fell victim to the wind and rain.

The 1s resume their Men's Hockey League Division One South campaign on Sunday following the half-term break at home to Oxted (1pm). Please come along and support.

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