Hallsy's Weekly Look Around the Academy

Worthing College Performance Programme Women's Football Coach Mike Bridges was full of praise for his 1st XI squad even though they just lost out to reigning ESFA National Cup winners Filton College of Bristol in the last 8 on Wednesday at Wick FC. Worthing came from 2-0 down with goals from Jade Widdows and Becky Simmonds to send the tie into an exciting extra time period. Despite Worthing hitting the bar it was Filton who struck first with 5 minutes to go to lead once again. However with two minutes remaining Jade Widdows converted a penalty to send the tie into the lottery that is penalty kicks, which Worthing eventually lost 4-3. "The girls gave it their all today, leaving everything on the pitch and came extremely close to knocking out a side that have been National Cup winners for the last three years, so there are so many positives to come out of this performance, which I'm sure the girls will for the remainder of their BCS Elite League and County Cup campaign." Bridges commented after the final whistle.

The Rugby Performance Programme had a great start to 2012 with a convincing 56-0 victory at East Berkshire College in the BCS Elite League. East Berkshire are a new team to the league, who brought some physicality to this match up, however Worthing's quality on the ball eventually won through. Try scorers were Dec Peake (2), Josh Mitchell (2), Sam Bath, Henry Birch, Brad Parker, Barney Lyons, Farhad Al-Dahimi with Parker kicking the remaining points.

Both Netball Performance Programme teams were in Hampshire League action and they both took on a strong Brockenhurst College at home. The 1st team continued their fine run of form with a 53-24 win, whilst the 2nd team pushed their opponents hard, but were eventually defeated 40-27. These results still leave both sides relatively high up in their respective leagues and this will be something that coach Tina Price will be extremely happy with as the players are competing against high quality opponents, which can only put them in good stead for their upcoming County and National events.

The Men's Football Performance Programme were both in league action this week looking to build upon their solid 2011 form. The 1st XI took on Boreham Wood at Arundel FC and eventually came out 4-1 winners. Joe Warner (2) and two excellent long range efforts from Lee Mottershead and substitute Nathan Webster sealed the points with Worthing still joint top of the ECFA National League with Kingston, who Worthing have a game in hand. Performance Coach Dave Hall was relatively happy with the first performance of 2012. "The lads worked extremely hard to get back to their sharpness levels after the Christmas break and at times played some superb football on a heavy surface. Another positive is that the players are creating chances and this will set them up nicely for a difficult month ahead. If we are still in this position come the middle of February then we will look to change our targets again towards finishing up the National League as high as we can in our first season, but at this point the players still need to keep their feet firmly on the ground." The 2nd XI cemented their second place in the BCS Performance League with a solid 1-0 away win at the City of Westminster College. Chris Potkins netted his third goal in two matches after following up a Ryan Hallett free kick.