Horsham hockey ladies struggling to finish season after frozen weekend

The Horsham Ladies hockey firsts are struggling to raise the bare 11 players after Saturday’s final game of the season had to be rearranged for tonight (Thursday) because of the snow.

The match away at Oxford Hawks was postponed because of the adverse weather conditions, but with around half the squad now unavailable it will be a patched up side which finishes the league season.

Coach Paul Johnson said: “The game has been rearranged for this Thursday but it leaves us with a real problem with players.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Most of the girls had booked their holiday or are away with the season due to end last weekend. We’re trying to pull up players from the Twos, but we can only use players who have been registered for the First team at the start of the season.

“England Hockey have said all games have to be finished by the weekend because of play-offs and relegations. At the moment we’ve got nine players, four of those from the Twos. I’m sure we’ll be able to get 11 players on the pitch, I might have to persuade a few to change their plans,” Johnson said on Tuesday.

Neither side arethreatened by relegation or in promotion contention, although Horsham could slip a place to finish eighth with defeat.

“We’ve been really lucky with the weather, Saturday was our first one off so compared to teams in other leagues we’ve done OK,” Johson added.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

On Tuesday the Horsham Ladies Firsts took on their Seconds in the Sussex Cup semi-final at Broadbridge Heath. The Seconds gave their senior club-mates a real early scare with a goal after only 20 seconds before the Firsts ran out 6-2 winners.

“The Seconds played really well but in the end the difference in level just told,” Johnson said.

The Firsts will now play Brighton in the final in May.