Hailsham Hockey Club |
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Affiliated to: Sussex Hockey Association |
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Southwick gave Hailsham a lesson in crisp, accurate passing on Saturday and were good value for their emphatic win.
Things had started well for Hailsham when they took the lead after just five minutes. Neil Phillips' pass into the D was brilliantly anticipated by James Dyer who drove the ball first time past the despairing dive of the Southwick keeper. Celebrations were short lived however when a couple of minutes later Southwick equalised after a clinical attack down the right wing and then added two more with well worked moves.
To their credit Hailsham refused to be blown away and pulled one back with a great example of direct hockey. Jim Major's long ball out to the right wing was collected by Neil Phillips whose accurate cross was seized upon by Sam Rham who crashed the ball into the goal from the right hand edge of the D.
After the restart Hailsham had one of their best spells of the game with Alan Bray marauding dangerously up front and an equaliser looking on the cards. Several balls flashed across the Wick goal mouth begging for the caress of a Hailsham stick but none of the Hailsham forwards could oblige. To make matters worse disaster struck when a lightning fast Wick counter attack made it four two and following the pattern of the first half they scored again almost immediately to be home and dry at 5 - 2.
Hailsham's never say die spirit kept them going however and when Mike Dixon got the faintest of touches on a well struck pass from Neil Phillips to make it 5-3 there was still a glimmer of hope. The lights were well and truly extinguished though five minutes from the end when Southwick made it 6-3 to clinch a deserved victory. Throughout the afternoon they had been sharper in the tackle, more accurate in their passing and more prepared to use the full width of the pitch.
Hailsham travel to St Francis on Saturday to play on the anachronism that is grass knowing that an all round improvement is required.
Hailsham seconds recorded their second successive defeat but playing against one of division four's best sides it was a vast improvement on the previous week's performance.
Hailsham conceded a goal after just three minutes and were 3-0 down within 20 minutes, but battled well and did not concede the fourth goal until the dying minutes of the game.
During the long scoreless period Hailsham created a few chances for themselves and Geoff Farnes in particular was unlucky not to score when he pushed the ball just past the post in a goalmouth scramble.
Although the home side battled well in what was often a physical game, one worrying aspect was the team's disciplinary problems. Two players were yellow-carded, leaving the side with only nine players at one stage and spending most of the second half down to ten men.
Jonathan Rallings was the first to be sin-binned, followed by captain Henry Drake, who conceded a penalty flick for stopping a goal-bound shot with a raised stick but was perhaps unlucky to be sent from the field for the offence. Keeper Craig Tasane, who turned in another good performance, saved the penalty.
Saturday sees Hailsham II at home to Crawley V.