Hockey: Chichester have Met their match

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Chichester 0 Cardiff & Met 3

National League Conference West

Chichester put up a decent effort against leaders Cardiff & Met at Kingsham but ended on the losing side.

Cardiff had won five from five coming into the match while Chichester had lost their last two but felt their performances were not far off where they needed to be to start picking up points.

The visitors took early control but Chichester were willing to fight for everything and rejected any Cardiff attempt to generate an attack.

Chichester created the first opportunity when Andrew Sparshott broke down the left and slipped the ball to Jack Lerwill, whose

shot was brilliantly saved by the Cardiff keeper.

On the back of this, Chichester won three consecutive penalty corners but were unable to capitalise.

With five minutes remaining in the first half, Cardiff took the lead when some poor defending down the Chichester left enabled them to slip the ball to an unmarked forward to slot home.

The second half produced some tantalising hockey and the game was end to end, which made it exciting for the crowd but frustrating for both teams, who were unable to keep possession for long periods.

Cardiff made it 2-0 through a well-worked penalty corner.

Chichester continued to press through Sam Broadhurst, Martin Gough, Andrew Sparshott, Ollie Baxter and Charlie Gibbons but the hosts were unable to get the ball past an excellent performance from the Cardiff keeper.

With Chichester pressing forward, the game became very open and Cardiff sealed the three points with minutes to go to make it 3-0.

Once again Chichester can be satisfied with their performance but will know their promising displays need to start bringing home the points.

Chichester visit Ben Barnes’ Fareham this Saturday for an evening push-back in what is sure to be an exciting encounter.

Burgess Hill 0 Chichester Ladies 2

Chichester Ladies’ first team triumphed at The Triangle.

They started the first half well by creating four short corners, but Burgess Hill defended well and managed to keep the scoreline to 0-0.

Burgess Hill started to attack Chichester’s D, but great defending from Demelza Peake, Ellie and goalkeeper April stopped Burgess Hill from taking the lead.

Just before half-time, another short corner to Chichester taken by Verena Sabel, who shot the ball into the back of goal.

This gave Chichester the spirit and confidence lift they needed before half-time.

The second half saw some great teamwork between all players including Nicki Kuntze and Ellie down the left wing and Meg Goring and Emily down the right wing.

This very strong forward play soon gave Chichester another short corner which was very well worked to bring another goal 2-0 from Sambel.

It was an excellent performance and Chichester will be looking to keep it up this Saturday at Kingsham, where there’s a 1.30pm pushback against Brighton and Hove.

CHI: V Sambel, M Goring, E Lerwill, A Cowley, E Buckley, E Nixon, P Hyla, D Peake, F Hollyoak, N Kuntze, A Giles, S Bradley, L Greenlees.

Chichester PP Ladies 2nds 0 South Saxons 0

The scoreline does not tell the story of a far-from-boring match.

South Saxons were a strong outfit and Chichester knew they had to concentrate from the start. Chichester were on the attack straight away and this threw the opposition.

The game was end to end with Chichester also coming under pressure, with Claire Young in goal thwarting the Saxons advances.

Rachael Trent, Lindsay Hauxwell and Sarah Jessop were excellent and it should have only been a matter of time before Chi scored but it wasn’t to be.

In defence, Jenny Horton and Merryn Young did well to cut out any further attacks and Chi soaked up the pressure.

Near the end Chichester were close to nicking the points – nevertheless this was a well-deserved point .

Next week it’s a 10.30am start at Crawley.

CHI PP LADIES: Claire Young, Tracy Austin, Georgia Welch, Rachael Trent, Julianne Doherty, Lindsay Hauxwell, Jenna Greenaway, Amy Chaplin, Jenny Horton, Merryn Young, Sarah Jessop, Holly Gyles, Harriet Gray.

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