Common prove point on return to Sussex League

Former Sidley United man Mark Freeman scored their first Division Three goal of the new century during the opening 10 minutes, but a controversial penalty denied them a winning start.

"We played very well first half," said chairman Ken Cherry. "We absolutely murdered them first half, but we couldn't sustain it unfortunately, although that's something we will learn by playing each week. We had the first half and they had the second, so on the day it was a good result."

Common adapted well to life in their new division and dominated the opening period of play, making a dream start after only nine minutes when Freeman calmly slotted home after an error in the Forest defence left him one-on-one with the goalkeeper.

Common continued to put pressure on the Forest defence with the lively Brian Ray harassing up-front, although the confident home stopper dealt with most that was delivered into his penalty area.

Common started slowly in the second half allowing Forest back into the game as they searched for an equaliser.

Substitute Hayes added zest to the Forest attack and fired narrowly wide when he was quickly closed down by Matt Shoesmith in the Common goal. Shoesmith was again called into action in the 65th minute to tip over a long range effort.

Common did create further chances, however, to put the game beyond their opponents. The impressive Conrad Sparks began a great passing move which led to Gareth Hobbs blazing over and good work from Josh Brown set up Ray who failed to connect cleanly with his strike.

The equaliser came from what Cherry described as a "dubious" penalty in the 75th minute when Phil Henderson was judged to have pushed a Forest player in the area. Hayes stroked the ball home to level the scores.

Common's hard work was almost undone with the very last kick of the game, but Hayes blazed wide when eight yards out with only Shoesmith to beat.