Horsham are six hitters to see off East Grinstead
Horsham Hockey Club’s men’s ones have been threatening to get among the goals for some weeks now and Saturday saw the ball find the net more or less every 10 minutes in their 6-1 victory over league whipping boys East Grinstead threes.
Horsham made scoring look easy, Ollie Spears scoring the first of his hat-trick 10 minutes in, a clever finish from the right hand side of the D. Kam Masood doubled the score on 20 minutes with a second goal from open play, a powerful strike that left the keeper flat-footed.
Skipper Sean Pearcy further stretched the margin five minutes before half-time with a well-judged drag-flick from a penalty corner.
The second half was more or the same, Spears scoring from the left hand side of the D, Johnny Ross deflecting a second Pearcy short corner past the keeper, and Spears claiming the MoM award with a cheeky lob over the EG keeper’s head.
Horsham’s defence managed the visitors’ forwards with little fuss, Crossley in the home goal making a single save.
It looked like another clean sheet up until the very last minute when EG won their first short corner of the game and the resulting flick somehow found the tiniest gap between Mark Bryan’s boot and the far post.
"All pretty straightforward,” was Pearcy’s post-match comment. “Then again we need to score goals against teams lower down the league to get out goal-difference more positive.”
Next week’s fixture against Old Georgians threes looks rather more competitive.
OGs, languishing third from bottom of the league, held high-flying Sunbury and Walton to a surprising draw, helping Horsham maintain clear second place in the table on the same points as Lewes but with inferior goal difference.
Rumour has it that Georgians have recruited at the top. With ex-GB internationals like Ashley Jackson now playing in their second team, the knock-on effect has been to push senior players down into their lower sides. Horsham need to take their A game to Weybridge for the late afternoon fixture.