Saxons suffer shock setback

Saxons suffered a surprise 2-1 defeat at the hands of mid-table Brighton & Hove III in South Hockey League Sussex Area - Division One.

Brighton made their intentions clear from the outset by playing a back four with three players just in front, but their containing tactics worked perfectly as they defended well and hit a frustrated Saxons on the break.

After Dave Draper was denied by fantastic saves from a trio of early penalty corners, Brighton opened the scoring following a mistake by Sam Bunday and doubled their advantage on the stroke of half time.

Saxons finally pulled one back with 15 minutes to go via another Draper drag flick from a short corner, but a goalbound shot by Dan Burnett which struck Draper in the back rather summed up their day.

A full report will appear in Friday’s Hastings Observer.

Standings (played 12 matches unless stated): 1 Lewes II 36pts, 2 SOUTH SAXONS 11-25, 3 Lewes III 23, 4 Penguin 23, 5 East Grinstead IV 11-19, 6 Brighton & Hove III 13-17, 7 Southwick 13, 8 Middleton & Bognor 12, 9 Worthing III 11, 10 Eastbourne III 11, 11 Crowborough 13-10, 12 Crawley II 8.