The game started life as a frantic, fast-paced encounter with both sides playing some good hockey and seeing plenty of the ball in the early stages.
As the half wore on, despite the constant threat of aerials over the top from Crawley, the Saxons defence of Tim Pilbeam, Dom Ford & Matt Stevens never really looked in trouble and the away side started to look the more likely of the two teams.

A good team move saw James Wilson and, new boy, Tom Gregory combine well in the midfield before the latter drove into the circle and fired the ball towards goal where Aston Spinks was on hand to apply the neat finish and put the away side 1-0 up.

Saxons continued to push on from this point and the mounting pressure brought with it a short corner, which was duly despatched into the bottom corner by new skipper James Bunday for his first goal of the season. The third goal came after a good run from Ed Hooton resulted in the ball squirting through a crowd to Joe Lovell who made no mistake from close range, putting Saxons 3-0 up at the break.

The second half started and Saxons looked to pick up where they left off, the score line permitted a more aggressive approach and wide midfielders Phil Carrington & Nick Taylor were having an increasing influence as Saxons dominated both ball and territory.

This dominance was underlined when Taylor burst into the circle and fired the ball past the Crawley keeper to make the score 4-0, and their pressure was further rewarded when Spinks was fouled and Bunday thumped a carbon-copy short corner into the bottom corner to put his side 5 goals to the good.

The move of the game followed shortly, with a terrific passing move involving Gregory, Wilson & Hooton resulting in the Crawley defence being made to look like statues, a good pull-back from Hooton left an empty net and Spinks made no mistake to grab his second of the game.

Saxons were in seventh heaven shortly afterwards when a pin-point pass from Wilson found Hooton unmarked in the circle and while his first shot was saved he reacted well to lay the ball on a plate for Taylor to become the third player to get his second of the game.

Sadly, the scoring was completed by Crawley when they wrong-footed, the otherwise exemplary if somewhat under-used, Brock Smith at a short corner to grab a late consolation goal, and make the final score 7-1.

Man of the Match was Tom Gregory for his top work-rate and creativity in a very impressive second team debut and only his second game for the club.”