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Weekends County League Round-Up (December 02, 2009)

There were many postponements due to the inclement weather and possibly an indication of an almost barren December/January for the County League as there are more forecasted rain on the way and a cold snap to come with it.

Of those games scheduled for this weekend, 12 groundsman take the “kept the pitch ok” award for this week.

Whitehawk hosted Selsey in the third round of the Principal RUR Charity Cup on Saturday and will visit Southwick in the Quarter Final after they despatched Selsey although The Hawks left it until the last ten minutes to seal their win. Crabb opened the scoring 7 minutes before half time and then Brown equalised for Selsey 9 minutes after the restart. With the game possibly heading to extra time, Jay Head gave Whitehawk the lead on 80 minutes and Budd completed the win two minutes later, making the game safe for the home side.

Four games in Division One survived the weather with Chichester and Peacehaven pulling 3 points each out of the “in hand” bag.

Although Three Bridges sit in the lower half of the table they matched their opponents in the first half and neither side could break the deadlock. Maybe the words of the home side were more stirring in the dressing room at half time as Chichester came out with their shooting boots on in the second half, well at least James Temple did. He scored the opening goal on 61 minutes and then braced it at the end on 89 to keep Chichester third in the league, but with 3 vital points pulled back on Wick whose cup game was postponed and Whitehawk who were in Cup action on Saturday.

Peacehaven also did the same as Chichester on the League front, but did it away from home. They visited Crowborough Athletic and had two braces in the game with Saunders opening on 14 and then despatching a penalty five minutes into the second half. He then handed over the scoring mantle to Wilkinson who scored his first on 52 and braced on 62 to lift The Tye up to fifth place in the League.

Hassocks and Lingfield ended in a 1-1 draw although the home side left it until the last kick of the game to rescue their point when Laing scored. That goal cancelled out the earlier Gibson effort after 30 minutes to steal a point and leave Lingfield gasping. Mile Oak would also feel aggrieved after leading their game at home to St Francis Rangers through an early first half Howard goal after 19 minutes. With the second half already 25 minutes in, Geoff Pitcher put the ball in the net for the visitors, with the partisan supporters calling for the head of the ex-pro as it appeared he used a hand to put the ball in, an accusation that was strenuously denied by Pitcher.

In Division Two, the result of the season for Midhurst who finally registered their first points on the table with a huge win against Rustington. The Blues have struggled as well since the start of the season, but they came to Midhurst on the back of 4 points in 6 themselves. Midhurst sprang The Blues offside trap at will in the opening five minutes of play and were rewarded with a goal from Holloway on 7 minutes. Rustington were totally outplayed by the spirited home side for the entire first half and left it up till the second half to actually put any form of shot on Midhurst’s goal. As the visitors became all the more aware of their impending defeat and all players in the home half, Holloway became the hero again when he scored his second to put the game beyond Rustington three minutes from time.

Little Common made up for their recent blip in form to defeat Steyning Town and avoid a possible league upset. Lewis Hole socred his seventh league goal this season on 30 minutes and thenJared Lusted added his sixth in the 60th minute to keep Common in pace with the top two in the Division with Rye United and Worthing United’s game’s both postponed.

Loxwood also made up ground on Rye & Worthing as they maintained Clymping’s bottom three status for another week. Two first half goals for Gulyas on 20 minutes and then the division’s top scorer Damon Aston put his twelfth of the season away seven minutes later. Clymping replied in the 80th minute with a Meon goal, but it was too little, too late for ‘ Ping.

Lancing pulled three points clear of their mid table opponents on Saturday with their visit to Storrington despite going a goal behind on six minutes with the first of Grantham’s brace for the home side. Boswell equalised for Lancing after 25 minutes and both sides went in at half time with honours even. Five minutes into the second half Griffin put the visitors ahead and after some exchanges from both sides Grantham found the net to equalise for The Swans. Storrington will rue the inability to put games, that they are on top of, to bed as within three minutes of their equaliser, instead of going on to win the game, Ford stepped up and scored the winner for Lancing.

Three games were played in Division Three with the biggest winners of the day not being by the difference in goals scored. Although Dorking Wanders put five past Pease Pottage Village, it was Haywards Heath Town who stole the division three cream by rising four places up the table into second after their 4-2 home win over previous second placed Bexhill United.
Bexhill United, in fact, were two nil up before Town scored through goals on 13 from Pugh and Funnell on 27, but an immediate reply a minute later from Cooper allowed the home side to go in at half time 1-2 down. Inspiring finishing from Dellow in the 70th, 77th & 89th minute signed off on the comeback of the season as Haywards Heath took all three point, and Bexhill’s second placed scalp with games in hand to boot!

Dorking Wanderers remain mid table despite their thumping win over Pease Pottage Village. Burgess on 15, followed by two in a minute hero Duffell (44 & 45) put Dorking on course for their 5th win out of 10 in the League. Second half goals from Smith on 52 and Joyce on 86 capped off a fine Dorking display.

In the only other fixture to survive the weather, Saltdean United lifted themselves to 6th in the table with their away win at Hurstpeirpoint. Ashley Rees opened the scoring in the 29th minute although Benjamin Hall equalised just a minute before the break, extending his lead at the top of the Division Three scoring charts with 10 goals. With 17 minutes played in the second half, Rees braced up to take the points for Saltdean and a welcome lift for the team up the division and himself into 8th in the scoring charts.

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