Saxons hit for six by league leaders

South Saxons Hockey Club's men's first team is still seeking its first point of 2017 after losing to the league leaders on Saturday.
Paddy Cornish was South Saxons' man of the match in the defeat to Brighton & Hove II.Paddy Cornish was South Saxons' man of the match in the defeat to Brighton & Hove II.
Paddy Cornish was South Saxons' man of the match in the defeat to Brighton & Hove II.

Saxons conceded twice in the first half and four times during the second period as they went down 6-0 away to Brighton & Hove II in South Hockey League Kent/Sussex - Regional 2.

The game started with the home side having the majority of possession, despite Jon Meredith, Paddy Cornish and former Brighton player Andrew Acott all grafting to get a hold of the game in the middle of the field.

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The energetic and youthful Brighton team soon broke the deadlock with a well-worked goal in which they opened up the away defence and passed around young Nate Webster in the Saxons goal.

Brighton's second goal was almost a repeat of the first as the Saxons defence was left chasing shadows once more.

Before the break, Tudor Stainsby was sin-binned for 10 minutes for hitting the ball away, slightly after the umpire's whistle.

The half time chat was still positive and the general feeling was that Saxons were still in the game.

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Brighton had other ideas, though, and were soon three-up. A well-worked short corner was slipped to the left and then returned to the forward on the far post to pass into the goal.

Brighton's fourth and fifth goals came from great teamwork to open up the Saxons defence on a frustrating afternoon for Gavin Cload, Toby Reed, Dan Burnett and Chris Meredith at the back.

More cards were shown to both teams towards the latter part of the game. Stainsby saw yellow again for a heavy tackle, Reed got a yellow for muscling his man off the ball and Jon Meredith picked up an unfortunate green.

The shot of the game came late on when a loose ball fell to a Brighton forward, who smashed the ball into the top corner to complete the scoring. Man of the match went to Cornish for a tireless effort in midfield.

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A lot to be learned for Saxons, who have slipped two places to eighth in the table ahead of a massive game at home to sixth-placed BBHC next Saturday. Push-back at Horntye Park is 1.30pm.

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