Crunch time for Chichester's sporting students

Table tennis action at the University of Chichester / Picture by John GeesonTable tennis action at the University of Chichester / Picture by John Geeson
Table tennis action at the University of Chichester / Picture by John Geeson
The next week or two will define many University of Chichester sports teams' seasons.

There are cup games ahead for some and battles at either end of the table for others.

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Chi’s men’s football twos are in a real scrap with Brunel and Roehampton at the wrong end of South Eastern 2A but picked up a 2-0 home win over Brighton’s first team to extend their unbeaten run to three since the mid-winter break.

Chichester started the game brightly and the visitors’ keeper did well to get a glove on a fierce drive after 17 minutes.

The home side went ahead following a spell of pressure in the 34th minute. Rafael Santos got on the end of a nice cut back and drilled the ball into the bottom corner.

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David Mendes-Borges doubled the lead just before the interval with a crisp finish after good work from Drew Smith.

Chi had chances in the second half. The Brighton No1 denied Santos his second goal six minutes in and then was thankful a shot curled wide on the hour mark.

The home keeper tipped a shot over the bar in the 63rd minute and then palmed another round the post later on.

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Chichester will hope to get something out of their final couple of games and that their nearest rivals drop points.

The men’s ones lost 2-1 away at Birmingham in the cup and now have the play-offs to contend with for Premier South survival.

The threes lost heavily against UCL ones, the fours suffered a 4-1 defeat to Brighton and the fives drew 1-1 with Sussex.

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The sixes, who are second behind Surrey with games in hand, didn’t play King’s College – a waterlogged pitch got in the way. The match between the women’s second team and Brighton ended goalless.

In futsal the men’s team beat table toppers Portsmouth 7-6. The women, who were cruising at Christmas, have now dropped to second place in Premier South after consecutive defeats to Bristol and Cardiff Met.

It was a tough week for hockey. Women’s ones pushed league leaders Surrey all the way only to lose 2-1, as they did in the reverse fixture back in November. Both men’s teams lost as well but the ones have a home semi-final to look forward to next week against Brighton.

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Elsewhere, it was a pretty good week for Chi’s racquets teams.

The men’s badminton first team drew 4-4 at Sussex and it was the same scoreline for the women, who were away against Roehampton and remain second in the league.

The table-tennis team got back to winning ways after last week’s cup exit to Bristol and look a shoo-in for the league. They beat LSE 12-5.

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Chi’s women’s tennis team lost at home to Reading but men’s tennis won 8-4 up at Gosling Park against Herts and put a bit of distance between themselves and second-place Sussex. The two sides meet at Sussex in the last game of the season in a few weeks’ time.

In netball the twos, who are looking over their shoulders at the bottom two sides, beat Royal Holloway ones 44-27 in the dome and the fours defeated the same university’s third team 55-30.

The threes are in a fight with Reading for the title but lost to Brunel 53-46. The fives also have title credentials and kept their hopes of promotion alive with a 31-21 win at Brunel.

In American football, the Spitfires shut out City 18-0.