Hockey hope springs eternal: It’s two in two for Horsham
Teamwork got us over the line. That was skipper Seam Pearcy’s comment after a bit of a nail-biter on the south coast as Horsham Hockey Club’s men’s first team beat Brighton twos 1-0.
There’s an old adage that it’s ‘goals that count’. But it’s also true that clean sheets count and, once again, it was a succession of great saves from Ollie Crossley in the Horsham goal that kept the team in the this see-saw game where the teams swapped ascendancy.
Hockey games play out over 70 minutes, and Horsham left it almost until the last seconds to clinch the three points. While down to 10 men due to a yellow card for Kam Maqsood, Pearcy drove into the home D and won a short corner two minutes from time.
Pearcy is also the short corner specialist and although the ball out wasn’t what he expected, he took it on his reverse stick and smashed it past the keeper – who also apparently hadn’t expected the move. Sometimes going off-script wins matches.
This second win in two weeks moves Horsham up to third place on goal difference along with only two other unbeaten teams.
Brighton, once a powerhouse side in the south, languish at the bottom – a sign that even a well resourced side, in a town with a big population and regular influx of young students, can experience changing fortunes.
With 20 matches still to go it’s still hard to know how the league will shape up and shake out but Pearcy’s team is growing in confidence after being so unlucky last term. This Saturday they welcome Woking twos to Tanbridge for what promises to be a much tougher match But they do so with a degree of both hope and expectation.