Match report from Russel Cole,

After a difficult week for captains across the club, Saturday 18th October saw Saxons M2 travelling to Horsham with a slightly depleted team, but with 3 players 'sucked up' from the 3rds.

The game was a must-win for Saxons to get clear of the bottom of the table and, given the run of heavy losses for Horsham, this seemed achievable. Captain Mark's team talk focussed on pushing forward and playing attacking hockey. Russ, new to the team, and Mark had a quick chat about short corners, with Mark suggesting that Russ run back hard to be a release option with the hope of getting a breakout goal and then the match began.

It was quickly obvious that Horsham saw this as a must-win as well. Both teams came out of the blocks at full pace.

The first half was an end-to-end game. Saxons had the best of it, keeping formation well, working the ball around the back and working their way forward. Neither team could get the advantage and the first half finished 0-0.
The second half started in much the same manner, although some of the older Saxons were tiring which led to Horsham winning a short corner. However, in a piece of brilliant prediction by Mark, Saxons cleared the ball out to Russ, who passed it up to, an already sprinting forward, Elliot. Elliot then drove into the D and popped it onto Jamie's stick on the near post for a goal.

Soon after Saxons got the ball back into the Horsham D and after a brief scramble Will hit a goal so hard that the backboard may need replacing. For some reason , Saxons found being 2-0 extremely stressful and forgot how to play for the next 5 minutes, but they managed to bring it back under control, applied more pressure and cruised into a victory.

MOTM : Russ Cole
DOTD: Mark