WOMEN'S ONE'S/TWO'S:
A combined team of Crowborough Women's 1's and 2's travelled to Marden for a pre-season friendly in the baking September sun. With new players and others returning from injury Crowborough settled into the game fast. Millie Rymer-Gough took advantage of a gap in the Marden defense with a lovely run forward followed by a pinpoint pass to Kate Baxter who smashed it into the net to make it 1:0. The rest of the 1st half was cagey with both sides applying pressure meaning the half ended in a draw. After the break Marden changed tactics by applying a high press which Crowborough struggled to deal with. Despite some outstanding saves from Sandra Steeple Crowborough conceded 2 quick goals. Not deterred Crowborough regrouped and worked the ball round the pitch well and were unlucky not to score more goals. The final score was 3:1 and Player of the Match went to Millie Rymer-Gough for a great comeback to Crowborough hockey.
WOMEN'S TWO'S/THREE'S:
A mix of the Women's 2's and 3's played a friendly away at Marden this week to prepare for next weeks 1st league fixtures. It was a defense heavy game with the backline battling hard to keep the ball out of their net. Everyone did their bit for the team including goalie Sandra Steeple who made some stunning saves as well as Celia Field who scored a great goal. Everyone's hard work in the 1st half meant that they went into half time equal to Marden. With several new players and some others trying new positions the team came together well but despite some strong runs and great passing Marden got the better of Crowborough in the 2nd half and the game ended in a 4-1 loss.
WOMEN'S FOUR'S:
Our newly formed Women's 4's played Burgess Hill in their debut match this Saturday. The Women's team which is mainly made up from last years girl's development players went down 4-1 at half time. However they never gave up and their stamina shone through in the 2nd half which saw Tabbi add a brace to Josie's volley goal in the 1st half. Fiona and Poppy C also found their way onto the score sheet and they found ourselves 5-4 up with 3 minutes to go. Burgess Hill unluckily converted a last minute short corner meaning the match finished as a draw, however this was a great performance from our young Women's 4's side and it shows how successful they will be this coming season.
MEN'S ONE'S:
With a new Men's 1's team including players from last seasons 1's, new faces to Crowborough and 2's players from last season Crowborough faced a strong Tunbridge Wells team for a friendly at Beacon. Tunbridge Wells played an aggressive start to the game with Crowborough playing the ball around the back looking for opportunities. Crowborough kept their heads up and found gaps in the Tunbridge Wells line leading to 2 goals in the 1st half scored by Freddie Lee and Dan Credland. Going into the 2nd half Tunbridge Wells came back strong leading to some mistakes from Crowborough. Tunbridge Wells were able to bring a goal at the start of the 2nd half from a deflection in a short corner but Crowborough retaliated by scoring from their own short corner with James Prteidge drag flicking the ball past the keeper. In the final stages of the game Tunbridge Wells were able to score a further 2 goals leaving the game as a draw. The Player of the Match was named as James Partridge.
MEN'S THREE'S
The Men's 3's played Horsham at Tanbridge School for a 10:30 pushback as their 1st fixture of the 2024/25 season. A hot sunny day saw Crowborough start well, some great passing and link up play meant Crowborough came close to scoring on a number of occasions. At half time the score was 0:0 and was a matter of small margins that kept the score level. The 2nd half saw Crowborogh build in stregnth and confidence. Ollie Sanday's pass through the middle found James Lee right in front of the keeper. Some great composure and a touch round the keeper resulted in a neat pass into an open goal for James Lee. A top performance from keeper Nick Sparks kept Horsham out of the game especially with a flurry of chances in the final few minutes. Player of the Match went to a deserving Ollie Sanday for a great performance with the assist on the winning goal. The end score was Horsham 0:1 Crowborough, a great start to the season for our Men's 3's.
GIRL'S DEVELOPMENT:
Girl's development hosted Burgess Hill at home this Saturday as a warm up game for their 1st league fixture next week. The 1st quarter saw a strong and composed team from the girl's especially in defense which meant Burgess Hill struggled to score against Crowborough's solid positional play. In a moment of confusion for Crowborough Burgess Hill took advantage and scored however the girl's stepped up and Lexi quickly equalized before the quarter was up. This game was end to end the whole time with with great determination from the girl's despite conceding a few goals in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Again Crowborough responded with a great team goal worked from a short corner saw Olivia work her way onto the score sheet too. Despite the 5:2 end score the girl's played so well together and represented Crowborough proudly.
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