Chichester's ladies and girls in winning form on hockey pitch

South Saxons v Chichester Ladies

Sussex premier

Chichester had only 11 players, missing some of their top players through illness and injury.

In a strong start, Chichester’s Juste Balkyte used her skill to get the ball in the back of the net within two minutes.

Excellent play from Jackie Baxter and Emma Bennison meant great balls were pushed through the midfield.

Sally Bradley hit the ball high through the air from the defensive D and Bella Festa, with one touch, brought the ball down to Rachael Trent, who quickly tapped the ball into the goal for 2-0.

Hard work from Philly Bowry lead to counter-attack after counter-attack. One short corner led to Bella Festa slipping the ball to Jenny Horton, who shot at goal. The ball was saved but after three deflections the ball ended up in the back of the net from Trent.

South Saxons won a short corner which hit a Chichester foot and rolled in, making it 3-1.

After half-time Chichester were determined to keep the intensity high, and there was solid defence from Bradley and Megan Thomas which stopped many counter-attacks from South Saxons.

Jess Gleeson and Festa set up more Chi opportunities, but a fast counter attack from South Saxons made it 3-2.

Great saves from Fi Griffith in goal, kept Chichester ahead and in another counter-attack Balkyte scored again to round off an amazing Chichester effort.

Chichester Ladies II 2 Honeybees 1

Sussex Ladies Div 1

This game was in some doubt in the 24 hours leading up to it, and Chichester went into the match a bit lethargic knowing they had beaten the opposition convincingly at their home ground.

Honeybees came with determination to give Chi the run-around and so they did.

Chichester had a bad first half, unable to find the pass or take control, and it was 0-0 at half-time.

Both sides came out in the second half positively but Chi were awarded a string of penalty corners, one of which led to Vicky Oliver-Catt striking the ball with speed and precision past the stranded Honeybees keeper.

Chi remained dominant but a lack in concentration let the visitors score. This spurred on Chi and again and another penalty corner resulted in Sarah Jessop hitting a reverse-stick shot that was goalbound but Gabby Crisp was on the post making sure it went across the line.

Chichester stuck to their guns and finished the game stronger.

Chichester: Julie Abson, Tracy Austin, Vicky Oliver-Catt, Amy Gilmour, Sarah Jessop, Alex Hurd, Rosie Smith, Kate Woods, Kayleigh Mckay, Cheryl Parrott, Gabby Crisp, Kath Mundy.

Chichester Friars 3 Basingstoke III 2

Hampshire Area Div 4

Basingstoke were well organised and very good in possession so the Friars needed to defend well.

On 11 minutes Martin Hughes found the net with a looping flick from a short corner to give the Friars the lead. Basingstoke equalised five minutes later from a short corner. The Friars did well to stay level to half-time.

In the second half, the Friars pressed harder and retained the ball far better. Possession brought more chances and the Friars took the lead on 44 minutes when Hughes smashed in a wide shot from another short corner.

The Friars were on top, but needed Rob Torrance in goal to be at his best when he made a triple save. Hughes completed his hat-trick of short-corner goals in the 55th minute, dragging the ball to the keepers’ right.

Basingstoke began to dominate play. More saves from Torrance and strong defending retained the two-goal lead, but with five minutes to go, Basingstoke scored from a scrappy short corner.

This set up a very tense last few minutes with Friars unable to break out of their own half. A short corner awarded to Basingstoke on full-time added to the tension, but the move broke down.

There were stand out performances from Luke Savory, Dave Walters and Trevor Andrews but this was another fantastic team effort.

Friars: Torrance, Andrews, Jaeger, Walters, Pacey, A Savory, L Savory, Strange, Hughes, Sabin, Wharton, Locke, Smith.

Chichester’s under-ten girls’ hockey team shone at a tournament at Hursptierpoint College.

They put in a huge amount of effort and flew the flag for Chichester Hockey Club brilliantly.

They lost 2-0 to Lewes, beat Horsham 2-1 then drew 0-0 with Burgess Hill.

Chichester then beat Brighton 1-0 and lost 1-0 to East Grinstead.

It was a very respectable performance against a line-up that included some very strong clubs.

* Chichester under-12 boys were a team to watch at the In2 Hockey tournament at Hurstpierpoint College.

Their first match against Eastbourne was exciting and ended 1-1.

Chichester came out strong against Mid Sussex. Some lovely passages of play using the width as well as more experienced players meant Chichester got the deserved 2-0 win.

The final match against eventual winners Lewes ended in a loss for Chichester but not through a want of trying. Some brilliant skills and use of training set plays were the positives from the 1-0 loss.

These results put Chichester through to the semi-finals and a finishing place of fourth. The boys did themselves and the supporters proud.