Sporty students defy the beast from the east

Chi’s men’s futsal team eased past Queen Mary with a comfortable 11-3 win in the semis at the weekend to book their place in the South Eastern Conference Cup final, in which they will face either Brunel or Medway.

The women’s futsal side got their season back on track after two defeats on the spin as they returned to the top of Premier South with victory at Bath. Something from their last game against Brighton will give them the title outright without the need for a head-to-head count-back.

Chi’s men’s hockey ones were also involved in semi-final action after beating Reading in the quarters.

Brighton went close from a short corner in their first attack before Chichester fired just over when they countered. Danny Ould, in the home side’s goal, made a smart save six minutes in.

Jordan Palmer-Goddard put the hosts ahead in the 13th minute, finishing clinically after super build-up play and a nice assist.

Brighton piled on pressure and Ould was called on again to make two stops in quick succession.

The lead lasted barely five minutes when Harrison Hubbard directed a cross whipped in from the right into the bottom corner.

The visitors dominated the latter stages of the first half and came out strong after the break. Ould had to clear with his feet after 60 seconds and then made a double save as the opposition forced a series of short corners.

From a well-worked short corner, the visitors took the lead after 55 minutes.

A mazy run from the Chichester No6 petered out with no end product. The home side had a player sin-binned for an infringement and Hubbard completed his hat-trick.

Jamie Whitehouse made it 3-2 late on to set up a tense ending but Brighton held on.

Skipper Charlie Gibbons said: “I’m gutted. We were really unlucky. Our keeper had a great game and kept us in it at times but on another day we might have taken some of our chances.

“At 1-1 the next goal was always going to be important. It’s tough losing in a semi-final and for some of the third years this was their biggest game in their time here. We’ve got to focus on some important games in the league now.”

Chi’s men’s badminton ones were at home to Brunel. When the teams met back in November Brunel won 5-3.

Gutsy performances from captain Jack Bird, James Lovell, Ben Skinner, Lewis Sandy, Leo Cheng and Lewis Grossert helped Chichester to a 6-2 win that means they leapfrog Brunel into third place.

The men’s badminton second team won a third game in a row but the women lost 5-3 to table-toppers New Bucks.

In basketball, the men’s ones beat New Bucks 81-52 while the women lost to the same uni.

Chi’s men’s volleyball ones were defeated by a strong Kingston side for the second week running but picked up a set this time.

In the only netball match that survived the weather the fours slipped into the relegation zone after losing to Portsmouth.