Burgess Hill enjoy Trophy triumph – Broadbridge Heath and Hassocks share six

It was the second round in a row Burgess Hill have come through on penalties, having dispatched Felixstowe & Walton Utd in a shootout after drawing in 90 minutes.

Charlie Pitcher almost opened the scoring in the 6th minute. Connor Tighe slipped a lovely ball through for Pitcher but his right footed effort was well saved by Matt Cafer before Jeff Duah-Kessies failed to put away the rebound.

The first half rather petered out and it stayed goalless at half-time.

The second half started in pouring rain

It had been all Sittingbourne in the second half but on the hour mark, Hill boss Jay Lovett introduced Dan Perry, who was returning from a knock.

Six minutes later, Hitman had opened the scoring. Hayden Skerry won the ball back high up the pitch for Hill, he played it out wide to Connor Tighe on the left and he spotted Perry free in the middle.

Tighe crossed and ‘Hitman’ took a touch to bring it down and then buried it through Matt Cafer’s legs to give the Hill the lead.

There were barely seconds left on the clock when Sittingbourne’s relentless second half pressure finally paid off. A cross in from the right hand side was flicked on by Donvieve Jones and it nestled into the far corner sending the game to a penalty shootout.

Hill took first and Tighe, as he did against Felixstowe, scored his penalty. Sittingbourne’s first penalty hit the bar and that gave Perry a chance to put Hill two up which he did.

Sittingbourne’s second penalty was brilliantly saved by 17-year-old Enos Duah before Lewis Finney hit the crossbar.

Sittingbourne scored with the third penalty before Hillians debutant Ben Delisle tucked his kick away. Sittingbourne scored their fourth but Martyn Box’s effort was saved by Matt Cafer. Sittingbourne took it to sudden death at 3-3.

Hill captain Josh Spinks, the Mid Sussex Maldini, eats pressure for breakfast and walloped his kick into the corner. Matt Warren put his kick over the bar – sending the Hillians through.

Hassocks 3-3 Broadbridge Heath – SCFL premier – report from Br Heath

A great game for the neutrals, the lead changing on three occasions, end to end stuff throughout the 90 minutes, lots of commitment, plenty of goals, saved penalty and the game ended all square at 3-apiece when the Bears travelled to play the Robins at the Beacon on Tuesday night.

Heath got off to a great start when Lewis Croal continued where he left off on Saturday by giving the Bears the lead on 8 minutes, Charlie Weller received the ball in the centre-circle and played it forward to Harry Mark, his pass split the defence and allowed Croal to run in from the right and hit a low right foot shot from the edge of the penalty area into the bottom left corner of the net.

The hosts equalised on 17 minutes when a corner from the left was cleared by Sean Terry, Jack Troak gathered the loose ball and tried his luck with a left foot shot from 20 yards through a packed penalty area, Matthews did well to block the shot but the ball came out to Liam Benson who netted from close range. Troak then gave his side the lead on 33 minutes with a cracking left shot from 25 yards they flew past Matthews to give his side the lead at the break.

The second half continued at the same frantic pace as the first and the Robins had a great chance to increase their lead when Benson went over in the box and Troak stepped up to take the spot kick but was denied by Matthews saving his shot low to his right.

Heath equalised on 73 minutes with the two substitutes combining, Jack Frankland in the right back position played a long ball forward down the middle of the park, a flick from Charlie Parmiter allowed Tyler Symonds to run through unhindered and he made sure with a cool right foot finish past the advancing keeper.

Ten minutes later Heath regained the lead when Matt Penfold played the ball to Croal who turned his marker, ran at the defence, slipped the ball between two defenders and toe-poked it past the keeper from 16 yards.

The hosts weren’t finished though and equalised on 86 minutes when their man of the match Leon Turner won the ball on the half-way line, took it to the goal-line and played a perfect cross into the path of Benson who headed home from 8 yards. Both teams continued to search for the winning goal but the match ended all square which on the night was probably the right result.

Boss Chris Simmons said: We gave the ball away too many times and three bad mistakes led to their goals but they were good value for the draw and the result could easily have gone either way. After pulling it back from 2-1 down to lead 3-2 late on, we should have been able to see the game out!

Heath: Matthews, Terry (Frankland 70), Chesworth, Penfold, Zydonik, Brackpool, Weller, Mark (Carvalho 46), Parmiter, Croal, Cooksley (Symonds 60).