TRAVEL troubles and a poor third quarter cost Brighton and Hove dear in the Men's Hockey League on Sunday as they fell to a 3-1 defeat at Bath Buccaneers.

Brighton were forced to re-jig their backline as skipper Adam Flett suffered a flat tyre en route to the Westcountry and missed the Division One South match. But after a tightly contested first half the visitors lost their way and the chance of points.

"What killed us was the third quarter," said team manager Jon Williams. "We were poor positionally and we weren't marking close enough."

Despite fielding a makeshift pairing of Will Heywood and Joe Sterlini at centre back in the absence of Flett, Brighton started well and more than matched their opponents. Bath netted the only goal of the first half after 31 minutes from a penalty corner rebound.

In the third quarter Bath moved 2-0 ahead when a player was left unmarked at the back post to tap into an unguarded net which left Brighton having to chase the game in the closing stages.

Jack Jones gave them hope with a superb individual goal, picking up the ball midway in the Bath half and driving into the circle before smashing a shot into the top corner of the net.

But that hope was swiftly extinguished when Luke Owen received a yellow card nine minutes from the end, leaving Brighton a man short. From a turnover the home side broke on the counter and made their overlap count.

Mike Burney was outstanding for Brighton at left back while James Rayward and Tim Upchurch continued to impress.

Brighton entertain Oxford Hawks - who claimed a useful 2-1 win at Teddington - at Blatchington Mill School on Sunday at 1pm.

Reading’s dominance of an otherwise tightly contested Division One South continued as they beat Sevenoaks 2-0, taking their tally to six wins and 31 goals from their six matches and opening up a seven-point lead at the top after nearest challengers Canterbury could only draw 2-2 at Old Cranleighan. Havant’s wait for a first point of the season continues after going down 3-0 to Southgate.

Brighton and Hove's women were twice denied by the post as they battled to a 1-1 draw at Aldershot & Farnham in the South East premier division on Saturday.

Still awaiting their first victory of the season, Brighton led through Katy Furber's close range goal and, after Aldershot had levelled, were unlucky to see Emily Cook's angled shot hit the post near the end.

Brighton are at home to local rivals Eastbourne at Blatchington Mill on Saturday at 12 noon.