Saxons hold on for opening day win
Saxons held on for a narrow 3-2 victory at home to Horsham III in Sussex Open Hockey League Division One after a 2-0 and 3-1 lead was almost wiped out amid a flurry of second half cards.
In warm sunshine at Horntye Park, Saxons passed the ball well during the first half and took the lead from a short corner. Jon Meredith played the ball across from the left for captain Jamie Busbridge to flick home.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdHorsham had the better of the play for a while, but Saxons defended well and doubled their lead just before half time. Alex Coombs went on one of his mazy runs and played the ball across for Busbridge to deflect home his second.
Although Horsham pulled one back early in the second half, Paddy Cornish had an effort well saved before man of the match Coombs made it 3-1 with a good shot from the top of the D.
Saxons then picked up two yellow and two green cards, and at one point were down to eight players. Horsham, who received one yellow card of their own, made it 3-2 during that spell, but Saxons - back up to 10 men by the closing stages - managed to hold on. Home goalkeeper Mike Sutton pulled off a good save at a short corner in the dying moments.
Saxons: Sutton, Riley, Cornish, Read, Cload, Orr, C. Meredith, J. Meredith, Coombs, Simmons, Busbridge.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdSaxons expect to field the same XI, plus Dan Burnett, when they make the long journey to Middleton this coming Saturday.
Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.
Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.
1 Make this website your homepage
2 Like our Facebook page at facebook.com/pages/Sport-Sussex
3 Follow us on Twitter @SportSussex
4 Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.
And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!