Play-off pain for Saxons

Saxons went down 3-0 at the hands of Tunbridge Wells in a promotion play-off between the runners-up in Sussex and Kent at East Grinstead HC.

Their captain Pete Watters said: “They were a lot better than I expected them to be and I don’t know why but we just played badly. A few key players didn’t seem switched on and it was incredibly frustrating.”

All the goals came during the first half on a glorious spring afternoon. Saxons were outnumbered at the back for the first, the water-based pitch played a part in the second and the third was from a penalty corner.

Tunbridge Wells were content to sit back and protect their advantage during the second half. And although Saxons had plenty of the ball and their opponents had a player sin-binned late on, there was no change to the scoreline.

Saxons: Deaves, Watters, Reed, Ford, S. Bunday, Cornish, Burnett, G. Eldridge, Cload, Busbridge, Draper, Morris, J. Bunday.

A full report will appear in Friday’s Hastings Observer.