The cold weather was reflected in Saxons sluggish start to this game, second best in much of the game in the early stages and losing Tim Pilbeam to a pulled hamstring within the first 10 minutes, meaning coach Rob Whitehouse had to dust off his stick and enter the fray for the first time all season.

Saxons started to wake up, but were still a way off their recent best and were dealt a double blow on 20 minutes when Matt Stevens picked up a very controversial 2-minute sinbin and, from the resulting attack, Worthing won a short corner which they duly converted to go a goal to the good.

Worthing weren’t done there though, they doubled their lead through a terrific solo goal, their skipper beating his man on the edge of the circle before hammering the ball into the very top right-hand corner of the net to put his side 2-0 up.

Saxons did get going after this and started to play some better hockey, Andrew Orr & Tom James both had narrow misses before James had an effort from a short corner well saved by the Worthing keeper.

The travelling side did manage to claw one back before the break though, Tom Gregory burst into the circle before firing the ball in at the near post on his reverse. Saxons had a lifeline, and went in at the break at 2-1 down.

After the break, and the frank discussions held within, Saxons started the second half with a much better tempo; the passing game was back to the levels it had been at in recent weeks and the away side started to gain a better foothold in the game. Since the injury to Pilbeam, Dom Ford had dropped to centre back and marshalled the defence well together with Gregory, now deeper in midfield. The tireless running of Orr & James Wilson in the middle of midfield was disrupting the home side’s rhythm.

The mounting pressure eventually told, a nice move down the right involving Ed Hooton & Tom Waters saw the ball fired in to the circle where skipper James Bunday managed to squeeze the ball through to Orr who coolly rounded the last defender, slotted past the keeper and brought Saxons back to level terms at 2-2.

The Saxons forward line of Hooton, Bunday, Whitehouse & James were all linking well and the creativity in midfield from Wilson, Orr & Gregory was causing Worthing problems. Saxons had the momentum now, and their desire to win this game having hauled themselves back into it was embodied by Man of the Match James Wilson, who almost entirely down to sheer passion and desire, drove past 3 defenders before slipping the ball to James who fired across goal where Whitehouse was on hand to grab the winner for the away side and send the travelling fan, Pilbeam, wild!

Saxons set about seeing the game out and, despite some hairy moments, the defence stood firm and carried out the task in confident fashion. Ford & Gregory were calm in the heat of battle and Wilson was hustling & harrying until the final whistle blew, securing a hard-earned 3 points for the away side.

Bunday said after the game: “we fought really hard today in what was a very tough game. We started really badly and gave ourselves a huge mountain to climb, but the boys responded brilliantly after half time. We looked superb in the second half and I think we deserved what we got in the end.

“We’ll need to be better than this against Brighton next week, but we know that and we’ll train hard this week – we’re looking forward to the game!”

Saxons face Brighton Rocks tomorrow (Saturday) knowing that a win would see them go to the league summit. Push back at Horntye Park is 1.30pm.