Chichester students beat runaway leaders

The University of Chichester's women's football team picked up perhaps the result of the week away to Premier South runaway leaders University of Hertfordshire.
Lacrosse action at the University of Chichester / Picture by John GeesonLacrosse action at the University of Chichester / Picture by John Geeson
Lacrosse action at the University of Chichester / Picture by John Geeson

Perry Northeast’s side lost 5-1 in the reverse fixture on the first day of the season but proved much more stubborn this time. And a lone strike by Laura Ingram on the hour mark, crashing in a Hannah Reed corner, settled things.

Herts, featuring a number of current Women’s Super League and England youth team players, were restricted to long range efforts in the first half and Chichester defended well.

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Northeast said: “We had a game plan and it worked. With it 0-0 at the break we knew that as long as every member of the team could remain focused on their individual roles defensively a chance could be created going forward.”

The win moved the women up to second behind Herts, who dropped their first points of the season. The Chi women’s twos also won on the road, thumping Portsmouth 5-0.

In hockey, the Chi women’s second team lost 3-0 at home to Reading fours despite starting brightly. They couldn’t make this early pressure tell and the visitors went ahead on the stroke of half-time.

An almost identical goal doubled the lead on 63 minutes followed by a third h five minutes later. The Chi women’s ones and men’s twos both suffered odd-goal cup exits but the men’s ones are through after a 2-0 win.

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In rugby, the men’s first team crushed Brighton twos 55-3 in the cup but the women’s unbeaten league run came to an end away to title rivals Canterbury Christ Church.

Coach Simon Carter said: “We came up against more experienced players that executed their game plan, whereas we had a few players who had only played three or four matches. Canterbury started really well and we were 14-0 down before we knew it.

“But to our credit we got back into it at 14-12. Half-time came at the wrong time for us when we’d just got some momentum going. Then they got a quick try and a clever penalty and we couldn’t catch up. Some of our players will be battered and bruised. We’ll go again next week against Imperial.”

It looks like there’s going to be all sorts of twists and turns in Prem South for the Chi men’s football team. In an evening kick-off away at champions Hartpury the hosts went ahead in the fifth minute thanks to a looping header from Ed Weeks.

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There might have been an equaliser but Jamie Chand couldn’t get a touch on Lloyd Rowlatt’s low cross, then the visitors had what looked like a penalty waved away by the referee.

A two-minute spell in the second half did for Danny Potter’s side. First Hartpury No9 Ethan Moore bundled the ball in from close range after Luke Hutchings’ initial stop before a Nick Grimes free-kick took a cruel deflection off the wall and spun agonisingly out of reach of the Chi keeper. Moore added a fourth with 12 minutes to go latching on to a loose ball that Hutchings had tried to claw away.

Elsewhere in men’s football there were cup losses for the Chi threes, fours and fives while the sixes, on a decent run in the league, advanced to the next round with a 2-0 win against Middlesex seconds thanks to a double from Kieran Dowell.

Dowell’s first goal, a composed header into the bottom corner after a fantastic delivery by full-back Matt Wood, was followed by a scruffy left-foot finish across the keeper.

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Chi’s women’s lacrosse team got another big league win and men’s table tennis narrowly preserved an unbeaten run that stretches back over a year coming through a tight 9-8 contest with LSE. There were also cup wins for men’s basketball ones and netball fives, who are also undefeated in league action this season.