SLIDESHOW: Mid Sussex lose to leaders Holcombe

The game started with Holcombe on top but Mid Sussex eventually settled and began to control possession.

However, Holcombe looked dangerous on the counter and with a long ball out from the back had 2 players through vs the Mid Sussex Goalkeeper which was tucked away neatly to put the visitors ahead.

Mid Sussex were rattled, conceded a few short corners, and within 10 minutes found themselves 2-0 down from an excellent drag flick.

Things looked very bleak for Mid Sussex but with ten minutes before half time, Hayden James managed to turn his marker, take the ball from the halfway line into the opponents D for him to tuck the ball past the Goalkeeper into the bottom left corner, 2-1.

With this lifeline Mid Sussex spirits lifted and dominated with several chances before half time. The score really should have been 3 or 4 – 2 to the guys in red.

The second half started, and Middys kept their momentum.

Holcombe were struggling and couldn’t seem to keep possession. With several chances and a few short corners being missed, Middys eventually equalised through a great first time strike from Ben ‘Triggers’ Trigwell.

With the scores at 2-2 the game became very tense and both teams started to tire. With Mid Sussex dominating possession, Holcombe looked very dangerous on the counter attack once again.

Holcombe won 2 consecutive short corners, and with what looked like a mis-hit from the Holcombe forward, it tricked the Mid Sussex defence, which allowed his team mate a clear opportunity to shoot and was slotted past the Mid Sussex Keeper, Adam Carter. With a very unfortunate goal to concede, Mid Sussex didn’t let their heads dropped and continued to dominate.

With great play from Mike Marchant, Tom Wylie and Hayden James, Mid Sussex began to win short corner after short corner.

Within the last few minutes Mid Sussex had at least 4 which they failed to convert.

Eventually the final whistle blew, and with Mid Sussex on their final corner, brought everyone forward. The ball was struck by Hayden James narrowly passed the left post and that was it.

The game ended 3-2 to Holcombe, but with a fantastic performance vs top of the league, Captain Tom Clinch saw massive positives and knowing that his team were capable of beating Holcombe by a significant margin, made the loss less painful.