This sunny Saturday took 6th place Yateley down to West Sussex to play against 8th place Chichester. Yateley lost this away fixture the previous season so it was a chance to turn that around and attempt to take all 3 points from a Chichester side that had lost the previous week.

The away side could not have gotten off to a better start by scoring within the first few minutes. Yateley demonstrated good possession and swift passing which resulted with an attack down the baseline. A combination of intricate passes resulted in shot that couldn't be cleared by the keeper and before the defender could clear the ball to safety, captain Matt Cresey lunged in and tackled the ball into the goal.

This gave the away team great confidence and this was noticeable in the standard of hockey that was being displayed. The ball was being transferred very well between the defensive line, which were producing gaps to progress up the field to create another chance. The ball was worked down the right and across the baseline. The ball made its way to an isolated Andrew Simmons at the top of the D only to have his back post pass deflected inches wide of an open goal by Matt Cresey.

Without taking anything away from the opposition, they were introducing some quick movement and pace through the midfield that was testing the consistency of the defensive ability in the Yateley team. This created the first short corner of the game when an attack across the baseline found a Yateley defender’s static foot. The home team equalised with a well executed short corner as their low drag flick evaded to the left of Yateley goal keeper Dan Rayner.

After conceding, the traditional response of Yateley found themselves their own worst enemies. The standard of basic passing dropped and basic skills began to deplete. This resulted in consistent turn over to the opposition and lead to Chichester's controversial second goal. A long pass through the centre of the field made its way to their centre forward. After a series of foot fouls within the D from both oppositions, the umpire was reluctant to blow his whistle. As Yateley were waiting for a foul to be given, Chichester reacted the quickest and put the ball into the back of the net past a stranded Dan Rayner. The half ended 2-1.

A stern but productive half time team talk from coach Rob Rowe injected some more passion and belief into the Yateley side. Both teams played believing they could take the full 3 points and the result could have gone either way. Yateley had previously demonstrated that despite being behind at half time, that they have the ability to fight back and get a result. With that in mind, it was Yateley who struck first. A shot from wide from Chris Hogg was deflected from the keeper onto a Chichester defenders foot, resulting in Yateley's first short corner of the game. Matt Cresey stepped up and skilfully placed his drag flick to the bottom left of the goal scoring his second of the game to make it 2-2.

Chichester continued to press to seek a third goal and the Yateley defence looked fragile. It took a phenomenal right post, stick save from Rob Rowe to fend off another well executed drag flick short corner and send the ball sailing over the cross bar. Soon after, the gaps in the Yateley defence were exploited and the continued pressure soon paid off for Chichester who took the lead again from a well taken strike from the middle of the D to the right of the goal.

Coming from behind yet again, Yateley pushed hard to desperately find an equaliser. Luck appeared to be against Yateley when a cross from Robert Goodchild was met by Matt Cresey and a top class deflection was saved by the grill of the unaware keeper’s helmet. Yateley battled hard to find a third goal and finally found it when their current top goal scorer Paul Bockett-Pugh deflected an Andrew Simmons pass around the keeper into the goal.

No winning goal could be found and the match ended 3-3. Frustratingly, this was Yateley's 5th draw of the season. Man-of-the-Match Matt Cresey commented: "On the face it this is a frustrating result as the three points where there for the taking. However, this is still a valuable away point and continues to show that we are strong unit who are hard to beat. We have made big strides from last season and want to make sure we continue to accumulate points this side of Christmas"

Yateley travel away next week to Reigate to try and break this reputable run of drawing results and score a win.