HOCKEY: Local weekly round-up

Wins for Marden Russets and Lewes saw them move up to second and third respectively, but Worthing can take comfort in the fact they are still just three points off the top, with a game in hand.

Ansell said: "Overall, a point is not too bad, but having been in the lead and played the better hockey, we felt that we deserved all three points.

"The league is very tight at the moment. We have three games before the Christmas break and if we want to be competing for the league, then we need a maximum nine points from these games."

Worthing started brightly and went ahead through Alex Warner's short corner. Craig Patterson's long run won the short corner, which Warner dispatched.

Holcombe then levelled things up but Worthing restored their lead before half-time as Rob Lowe found Dan Ginnaw at the edge of the D and the winger coolly slipped the ball past the oncoming keeper.

The second half turned into a scrappy match, which at times spilled over into a bad-tempered affair. Worthing managed to create at least five good goalscoring opportunities, but found Holcombe's goalkeeper in top form.

And it was late heartbreak for Worthing as Warner fouled in the last minute, picking up a yellow card, and Holcombe equalised from the resulting short corner.

WORTHING: Binns, Godber, Pease, Warner, Sewell, Sciandro, Ansell, Sawyer, Paterson, Ginnaw, Lowe. Subs: Marr, Beales, Gubbins.

It was a double win weekend for Worthing Ladies. On Saturday, they won 6-1 in their league match against Crawley.

Shelley Formstone and Andie Chambers both netted braces, while Kirsty Pickett and Gemma Atkinson were also on target.

On Sunday, they advanced into the third round of the EH National Vase after a 5-2 win over Ashford, Kent. Chambers again hit two, while Atkinson, Formstone and Andrea Catlow got the others.

Worthing 2nd missed the opportunity to go top of Sussex Area Division 1 after a 2-2 draw with top-of-the-table South Saxons 1st.

Saxons took the lead within 30 seconds before Bryan Lock levelled things up, but Saxons again went ahead before half-time.

Ahmed Ramiz eventually grabbed a late equaliser from a short corner after a half Worthing dominated.

In the same division, Southwick beat Middleton & Bognor 10-2, Penguin overcame Eastbourne 3rd 6-4 and Worthing 3rd lost 8-3 away to Brighton & Hove 3rd.

Worthing 5th continued their unbeaten run to make it eight wins from eight games as they beat Eastbourne 5th 6-3 in their top-of-the-table clash.

The result means Worthing went six points clear in Division 3 of the Sussex Open League. Ater Saturday's results, Brighton 6th moved up to second and Worthing face them on Saturday.

Littlehampton suffered only their third defeat of the season in Division 1 of the Sussex Open League as they went down 3-2 to fellow promotion rivals Horsham 3rd.

An injury-hit Littlehampton side slipped to fourth in the table but remain just three points off top side St Francis, who they face at Littlehampton Academy on Saturday.

Littlehampton were missing league top scorer Jon Miles and had to field a makeshift strike force.

Damien Jenkins just failed to connect with Dave Clark's driven cross, and Tony Thompson had a deflected effort from a short corner well saved in the early exchanges.

Stuart Sexton broke the deadlock midway through the half. He cut in from the left, beat two defenders, before his shot was deflected into the bottom corner.

Simon Judd went close to doubling the lead, but sustained an injury in the process, and Littlehampton had to try to battle out the rest of the half with just 10 men.

They almost held out until half-time but sustained Horsham pressure led to an equaliser when Littlehampton keeper Nathan Keeley's save fell to Nick Finill, who finished from close range.

James Faires gave the home side an early second-half lead with a thunderbolt from a short corner, but with an injured Judd back on the pitch, Littlehampton searched for an equaliser.

Despite being pegged back in their own half, Horsham, managed to extend their lead as Finill grabbed his second of the game on a breakaway attack.

Thompson pulled a goal back for Littlehampton, when he beat the keeper with a short corner deflection, but the equaliser never came, despite Steve Jenkins and James Macdonald forcing late saves.

LITTLEHAMPTON: Keeley, Phillips, Thompson, Clark, D.Macdonald, Sexton, Warner, S.Jenkins, J.Macdonald, Judd, D.Jenkins.

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