Chichester's hockey youngsters and masters take limelight

Read here how the under-12 boys got on versus Petersfield, how the juniors got on at Hurstpierpoint, and how the club’s ladies’ masters have had a season to savour.

Get involved in the coverage by sending your hockey reports and pictures to steve.bone@chiobserver.co.uk

Chichester U12 Boys 1 Petersfield 1

Chichester welcomed second-placed Petersfield to Kingsham Road for Wessex Under-12 division two north match.

Petersfield dominanted early on but sterling defence, notably from Max Kerr and Jamie Edwards, meant they struggled to get the goal they probably deserved.

Chi’s midfield three of Sam Wilmot, Zubin Chinwala and Eden Littlefair started to get some critical tackles in and move the ball forward. Only resolute defending from the Petersfield sweeper and three saves from the keeper prevented Chi taking the lead.

Back came Petersfield, and on 15 minutes, despite the best efforts of Jack Bartholomew and Oliver Clegg in defence, Petersfield scrambled the ball into the net.

In the next Petersfield wave, a delightful clearance from Littlefair in defence split the midfield to find captain Dilner at centre-forward in a one-on-one with the keeper. But the keeper foiled him.

Into the final 20 minutes, delightful right-wing runs by Anton Pearson mirrored by tenacious attacks from Matt O’Shea on the left opened up the Petersfield defence but the finish eluded Chichester.

Finally Patric McCormac found Wilmot on the right and he jinked past a couple of defenders into the circle and along the back line. He tried to pull it back to Toto Dilner on the spot, but it was intercepted by a Petersfield defender who deflected the ball into the goal.

Clegg made some desperate goal-line tackles and Chichester were holding on. The calm head of keeper Barney Lawford kept the defence strong while making some outstanding saves to clear the lines and keep the score at 1-1 and earn the MoM award.

Chichester sent some junior teams to a tournament at Hurstpierpoint College. All the children put in a fantastic effort and played brilliantly. The girls’ cup team finished third and were unlucky not to reach the final. The girls’ vase team finished fourth and the boys finished third in their pool with two wins out of four.

Meanwhile Chichester HC entered the Under-12 National In2 hockey competition. They emerged as Sussex champions, conceeding just one goal and scoring 21, winning the final against the mighty East Grinstead 2-0.

They now proceed to the southern regional finals in April.

Chichester’s ladies masters team have had a mixed season of results – but have thoroughly enjoyed it.

They entered the South Masters League this season, and hosted Reading in their latest game. The Ladies have faced some very talented opposition, travelling as far afield as Oxford and Eastcote, and had great results against Staines and South Berkshire.

The squad have thoroughly enjoyed the experience and are looking forward to the South Tournament in May – and hoping for warmer weather.