Hockey: Rare strike for Luke clinches cup final place (From The Argus)

Hockey: Rare strike for Luke clinches cup final place

10:59am Tuesday 9th January 2007 in Sport By David Brooks

Captain Luke Williams scored his first goal for three years to send Brighton through to their seventh successive Sussex Cup final.

Williams hit what proved to be the winner in a 2-1 defeat of Chichester to set up a final clash with Worthing in April.

Brighton went into the match as underdogs as they currently trail league leaders Chi, who beat them 6-2 earlier in the season.

The hosts were also without two of their most influential players, coach Craig Carolan who rested himself, and South African international Lloyd Norris-Jones who has cut short his stay with Brighton to return to his homeland.

Chichester, meanwhile, were without player-coach Ben Barnes, who was on indoor duty with East Grinstead.

The visitors enjoyed most of the possession but good defensive work kept chances at a premium and Brighton always seemed the more likely to score from a breakaway.

It was from a counterattack that Sam Rose showed good skills down the left wing and was stopped illegally just outside the Chichester D.

The resulting free-hit was fired in by Gareth Lendrum and Simon Coles was on hand to provide the finishing touch.

Williams scored the decisive goal in the opening minutes of the second half but Chichester pushed hard to get back into the game and were rewarded when striker Jack Lerwill halved the deficit with a well struck effort.

Chi pushed for a winner but keeper Neil Burlinson made some smart saves to keep them at bay.

Carolan said: "We were missing some key players but the young players had to have confidence in their ability. This has been Brighton's mantra this season and the emphasis is once again on a team ethic and investment for the future "The team has to work together and not rely on one or two star players to make the difference and they did just that."

HOLDERS East Grinstead will take an unbeaten record into the second weekend of qualifying for the National Indoor League.

Three wins and a draw from their opening four matches have left Grinstead second in the nine-team group.

With the top four qualifying for finals night at Birmingham after next weekend's action, last year's champions are level on points with group leaders Loughborough Students and three clear of Canterbury, the only team they failed to beat.

Grinstead still have to play Loughborough but their other three matches will be against teams in the bottom five.

They got off to a great start at Kidderminster on Saturday when Ben Barnes, returning to indoor action with the club, scored after three minutes to send them on their way to a 6-1 defeat of Doncaster.

Reading were dispatched 6-3 later in the day, then Grinstead beat Loughtonians 4-3 before squandering a four-goal lead to draw 4-4 with Canterbury on Sunday.

Manager Matt Jones said: "We are confident where we are."