England Hockey

Men’s Conference League

CHELMSFORD returned to winning days on Saturday with another comfortable home win over Crostyx.

The game was switched from the water based to the sand based pitch taking away any home advantage for Chelmsford, who were also down on numbers, only fielding 12 players.

The game started with Chelm seemingly half asleep as usual, being caught by the fast start of Crostyx who moved up the right and crossed the ball for their left wing to slot home after two minutes.

This woke the home side up and they gradually took control of the match. Following a good passage of play between Adam Hunter and Geoff Mills on the right wing, George Mann found himself in front of goal with the ball, which he chipped over the prone keeper to open his account for the day. Despite dominating the rest of the first half, the scores were level at the interval.

The second half started with Chelmsford winning an early short corner which David Hunter injected and then deflected for his second official goal of the season. Chelmsford doubled their lead almost immediately when Adam Hunter’s quick turn and strike deceived the Crostyx keeper following Mills’ early free hit.

The half continued with Chelmsford dominating play and should have extended their lead when Adam Hunter was hauled down in front of goal, however Will Hales’ weak penalty stroke was well wide of the goal. Despite this set back, Chelmsford continued to enjoy the majority of possession, and were rewarded when another short corner saw George Mann serving the ball past a fairly agile keeper.

As the game drew to an end Crostyx, a lapse in concentration from Tom Fanger gifted the ball to the Crostyx centre forward who neatly crossed the ball for a waiting forward to strike into bottom right corner.

‘Not to give up’ is Chelmsford’s motto and in the 68th minute a short comer was won and injected, Hales made amends for his earlier miss when he slipped the ball left and let fly a screamer to finish. 5-2 win on sand.

Overall it was a good all-round performance by all, Ben Sulley played in his debut.

Chelmsford play City of Peterborough away looking to notch up another win.