Final of the Sussex Cup

Hurstpierpoint College 3: St Bede’s 2

Hurst began strongly but failed to capitalise on their early dominance by simply not engineering enough shots at the goal. Then pressurised into giving away a short corner and compounding the error by defending with less than their customary skill, Hurst allowed St Bede’s to break the deadlock and go one up. The lift this gave to the St Bede’s spirit enabled them recover from their initial nervousness and they played with noticeably improved confidence through until half time.
 
Both sides came out for the second half knowing that the game was still wide open and responded by producing some fast moving and fluid hockey punctuated by errors, one of which allowed St Bede’s to go 2-0 up with only 23 minutes of the game left. “A mark of the maturity of the Hurst squad” said team coach Ian Pattison “is that despite this significant setback, and the knowledge that time was tight, our boys did not give up for one moment. In fact, they redoubled their efforts and, adopting a number of key tactical changes - including playing four upfront with one less defender - they began to dominate the play. It was then that we were rewarded with a penalty corner that enabled Jack Maybank to smartly snap the ball into the back of the net.” The pressure on both sides was now immense” commented Hurst’s Master in Charge of Hockey Chris Wilson “and the younger, less experienced St Bede’s squad lost just a little of their composure; their play became less fluid and there was some rushed tackling”. Then with only 8 minutes to go, Dominic Dann laid off a shot for a first time  strike by Cameron Bygraves to level the score at 2-2. Aided by the temporary suspension of two St Bede’s players, Hurst really piled on the pressure and with 4 minutes to go, Captain Josh Cather calmly put away a penalty stroke to take the lead which they held by controlling possession throughout the remainder of the game.

“We did not play at our best for much of this game” said Pattison “but I’m enormously proud of the way our boys kept their heads, fought back and, working to plan, produced an astonishing final10 minutes. St. Bede’s are a very good, young and talented side and they will certainly be a very powerful force to be reckoned with next year”.

Chris Wilson reflected of Hurst’s recent history in the Sussex final. “Our 1st XI have contested the Sussex final many times and this is the first time we have won. It is particularly satisfying to have achieved victory the final year at Hurst of Josh Cather, Jack Maslen and Jack Maybank, three superb players who have been stalwarts of Hurst hockey throughout their time at the school.”