Lancing leave it late at Littlehampton – Worthing have Suffolk success – Wick have mixed feelings in Surrey

Littlehampton 0 Lancing 1

Isthmian south east

by Dave Wilmott

Lancing left it late to secure three points from local rivals Littlehampton at The Sportsfield in front of a good crowd of 321, which included a strong away support.

Despite being some way behind Lancing in the table, in 15th. spot, the Golds made life difficult for the third-place visitors and looked to have earned a point – until conceding in the 90th minute.

Alex Plummer was in the Lancing starting XI, covering for the injured Charlie Bennett, Dan Howick was making his first start in place of the unavailable Charlie Gibson and Noel Fisher kept his place after an impressive performance against Cray Valley, covering for Charlie Pitcher, who is also injured.

Lancing found themselves having to adjust their style of play to suit the conditions on a pitch with an uneven and greasy surface in places. Both sides were having difficulty maintaining their footing and this was contributing to some misplaced passes.

The game was 10 minutes old when George Taggart created Lancing’s first scoring opportunity with a cross into the six-yard box where it was met by the head of Lukas Franzen-Jones. The ball was directed towards the net until cleared from the goal -line. Lancing were enjoying some good possession and getting into the final third but the decisive pass was absent, causing attacking play to break down.

Fisher showed confidence on the ball and a willingness to run at the Golds defence. Weaving his way through a couple of defenders and heading towards the goal, he was halted at the expense of a corner.

It took Lancing almost 20 minutes to get their first real shot at goal with Franzen-Jones hitting a low drive which was comfortably held by keeper James Binfield. Taggart was again the provider for Fisher putting him in space in the box but Fisher sliced his effort wide.

The Golds were finding the Lancing back four difficult to break down with Howick in dominant form and Andrew Briggs and Plummer were on hand to patrol the centre and pick up any loose balls coming from the defence.

The Golds wide men, Nodirbek on the right and Powell-Downey on the left, were working hard to get in behind but found themselves being tightly marked and unable to make any real progress. Louis Rogers was having a quiet time but did have to respond to a corner dropping towards his crossbar with a firm punched clearance. Binfield had to be alert at the other end to leave his goal-line to beat Lukas Franzen-Jones to a lofted pass over the top of The Golds back line.

Powell-Downey was put clear down his left, picking out Nodirbek but he drove his effort wide. Neither side had come close to breaking the deadlock in the first 45 minutes. Ex-Lancer Tom Butler and Bradley Peters were matching their counterparts in the Lancing defence and keeping a tight grip on Ben Pope and Franzen-Jones.

Franzen-Jones was able to aim for goal, getting on the end of across from Sam Bull, but his shot was blocked. Nodirbek put Powell-Downey in on goal bringing a good save from Louis Rogers.

Lancing made their first substitution on 59 minutes with Eliot Jenks replacing Alex Plummer. At the same time The Golds lost the service of their centre back Bradley Peters, due to injury, with Jordan Clark replacing him. A delicate touch from Jenks sent Sam Bull through on the left and his cross came close to dropping onto the far crossbar.

Nodirbek and Powell-Downey were combining well with Nodirbek capitalising on pass from Powell-Downey only to see his shot deflected for a corner. Lancing brought on Harry Heath for Taggart on 73 minutes.

Golds right back Ryan Yoro-Thomas was getting forward in support of Nodirbek and reached the six-yard box before producing a close range shot which Jack Meeres was able to block for a corner. The corner was cleared long with Heath closing down.

The Golds defender deep in the opposition half, forcing him to concede a throw in, which Heath took quickly putting Pope in on goal. Pope was brought down with Lancing looking for a penalty but nothing was given.

Rather surprisingly the lively Powell-Downey was taken off, with another ex-Lancer, the pacy Bradley Campbell-Francis, coming on. Nodirbek continued to be a threat down Lancing’s left and broke forward with Sam Bull and Jack Meeres in hot pursuit. There was a sigh of relief when he fired wide of the far upright.

The Golds were sensing that there might be a goal in the offing. Campbell-Francis broke forward and drove the ball across the face of the goal and out of play, followed by Yoro-Thomas launching another attack which Lancing were able to clear.

Four minutes of added time were signalled and this prompted Lancing to make a last-ditch effort to find a winner. A corner was won on the right which the Golds failed to clear. Pope slid in as the ball ran free and directed the ball towards Franzen-Jones. Lancing’s leading scorer reacted in a flash, turning and hitting the ball into the net to the delight of his team mates and the Lancing supporters. Lancing saw out the final minutes by bringing on Will Berry for Laing.

Littlehampton might feel a sense of injustice at missing out on a share of the points. Both sets of defenders could be satisfied with their game. There were very few attempts on goal sufficient to trouble the keepers. But Lancing are a team that remain strong to the final whistle and this was proved again.

Lancing continued to occupy third spot and can be content at having negotiating what turned out to be a difficult hurdle. With injured players likely to be returning soon, the team will benefit from being back at full strength.

Howick defended superbly, having hardly put a foot wrong, so he was named as Lancing Player of the Match.

Lancing starting XI: Louis Rogers, Alex Laing (Capt ) ,Will Berry 90.), Jack Meeres, Dan Howick, Sam Bull, Andrew Briggs, George Taggart (Harry Heath 73 ) (Alex Plummer (Eliot Jenks 59 ), Noel Fisher, Ben Pope, Lukas Franzen-Jones. Unused subs: Rory Marashi, Leon Fisher.

AFC Sudbury 0 Worthing Women 2

National League Div 1SE

by Gareth Nicholas

Worthing completed the double over AFC Sudbury - by an aggregate of 7-0 - thanks to late first half goals from Gemma Worsfold and Shannon Albuery.

Following on from booking their place in the Sussex Women’s Challenge Cup final, there were three differences to the side that took to the pitch at The MEL Group Stadium. Regular No1 Lauren Dolbear returned between the sticks, while Emma Blakely and Sammy Quayle also made it back into the starting XI. That left Izzy Glass-Oliver and Emily Linscer to join Caz Hodgson and new signing Ellie Keegan on the bench.

The visitors dominated possession in the opening period but, chances wise, it was even-stevens in the early exchanges. A mere two minutes had ticked by when Rachel Palmer’s right-sided corner caused a commotion, forcing captain Ronni Harrison to head off her own goalline from a defensive colleague.

AFC soon hit back; a neat little build-up drawing to a close via Leonnie Bezant firing one narrowly over the target, outside the 18-yard box. Less than sixty seconds later, Victoria Leyer’s terrific run down the left procured a flag-kick, courtesy of Palmer blocking Jess Allen at close quarters.

Worthing’s best chance arrived just shy of midway through the first 45 – despite Aliyat Lambe’s best efforts at intercepting Katie Young’s long, raking pass. Quayle took the gauntlet and ran along the right with it, eventually crossing for skipper Worsfold to pull agonisingly wide of the far post.

The same pair linked up again on the half-hour mark, this time Young finding Quayle to cut inside Amy Jarvis and earn a corner, via a deflection. Although it remained goalless, the Reds continued to take the game to their opponents. Tierney Scott, always posing a danger on the left, threaded a ball that Worsfold cleverly dummied to leave Albuery one-on-one with keeper Milly Carter. MC called the tunes as she raced out of her goal to intercept at the forward’s feet.

A burst of two goals in a minute then changed the outlook entirely. Worsfold gave Carter no chance via an emphatic finish that she struck in off the far upright from the edge of the penalty area, added to less than a minute later by a volley that Mark Hughes would have been proud of, flying in off the right foot of Albuery to double the advantage.

The score was very nearly three, only for Carter to time her charge out of her six yard box to deny Worsfold a brace.

Shortly after the interval, the crossbar came between a deficit cutter and Leyer, who headed against the woodwork from Sophie Jeffery’s right flank free-kick, coupled with the intervention of Dolbear’s finger tips. An hour into proceedings, Eva Frazzoni slipped in centre-half Lambe down the middle and Blakely used her body well to get in front of her opponent to protect the ball and allow Dolbear to get down at her feet and hold on.

Yellows had made two changes at the break, Yasmine Drake and Ella Edwards joining the action, though it was another substitute Alex Penny who may have reduced the home team’s arrears, had it not been for a decisive touch by Scott to concede a flag-kick when a lovely crossfield ball had put the Academy graduate in the clear.

Chances were less forthcoming after the change of ends, although the set-piece prowess of Jeffery continued to pose a problem. Lambe coming close to rendering Reds bleating by nodding a fraction the wrong side of the upright off the left-back’s latest deadball delivery. A corner created the opening opportunity of the afternoon and the same source brought about another close encounter with the scoreboard; Dani Rowe curling one in dangerously close to Carter’s crossbar, forcing the custodian to punch clear.

Five minutes remained on the clock when some neat, one-touch combinations between Young, Hodgson and Chloe Winchester concluded with the latter depositing a long-range effort behind it’s intended destination. Worthing then successfully saw the rest of the match out, meaning they travelled back to Sussex with three more points, as they extended their winning run in all competitions to six.

They are second in the Division 1SE table, two points behid leaders AFC Wimbledon.

Godalming 2 Wick 2

SCFL Division 1

Lee Baldwin was left in two minds as Wick’s seven game winning streak in the Southern Combination Division One can to an end at fellow promotion hopefuls Godalming.

The Dragons led 2-0 just after half-time when Sam Conolly headed home to extend their lead following an own goal from Gs defender Chris Farmiloe only to be pegged back by two strikes in six minutes from Godalming substitute Josh Toya-Nero.

Wick then withstood a period of pressure when they were reduced to ten men after Josh Irish was sent to to the sin bin before finishing strongly with Jake Hawker, Charlie Robinson, Dave Crouch and Irish all going close to snatching a late winner.

The draw against third-place Godalming on a bumpy, gluepot pitch followed wins against leaders Dorking Wanderers B and second-place Roffey and Baldwin said: ‘We would have settled for seven points before playing consecutive matches against the top three but I’m disappointed we didn’t continue our winning streak after going 2-0 up.

‘Having said that, I’m happy that we kept going and didn’t fold and the boys showed a lot of character as they finished the stronger side and looked the more likely winners.

‘We’ve taken 23 points from the last 27 available and our unbeaten run in the league has been extended to nine games so there are plenty of positives to take from this performance.’

Wick hit the road again on Saturday when they travel to Billingshurst before further trips to Worthing United and Oakwood but finish their campaign with eight of their last 11 matches at Crabtree Park.

Forest Row 1 Worthing United 5

SCFL Division 1

With the hosts having not played since before Christmas, the Mavericks took full advantage – putting four past them without reply in dominant first half display.

Goals from Marcus Puddephatt, Dan Hills (2) and beautifully curled free kick courtesy of Danny Kingston did the damage.

Forest Row came out strongly after the break with a fine long range strike for Downer giving them a lifeline. Indeed some good goalkeeping was then required at times to avoid them getting a second.

But as the half went on and the substitutions came the likelihood of an unlikely comeback diminished. Indeed, it was the Mavericks who got the final goal of the game deep into stoppage time courtesy of a sublime chip from Kingston.

The result moves the Mavericks up to third place in the league table as they now prepare for the visit of Alfold to Lyons Way on Saturday.

Ewhurst 3 Goring CC FC 8

West Sussex Div 1

Goring enjoyed an emphatic victory to maintain their unbeaten league record.

Goring took total control from the outset and were rewarded in the19th minute when Jacob Pippen set up Jordon Jones for the opene, followed by a fine goal from Connor Pomeroy in the 25th minute and another a minute later when Pomeroy set up Pippen for his first of the season.

The fourth came from Pomeroy following a pinpoint cross by Sam Madgwick. Ewhurst pulled one back before Todor Bankov added a superb fifth in the 41st minute.

A second Ewhurst goal in the 43rd minute was quickly followed by one by Goring’s Jay Warden to end the half 6-2 in Goring's favour.

In the 55th minute Pomeroy completed a fine hat-trick, latching on to a splendid pass from Pippen. Ewhurst cut the deficit but Goring completed the scoring on 77 minutes when Bankhov cut the ball back for Kieron Gillard to score.

Goring are second, five points behind the leaders with two games in hand.

Yapton 1 Wittering 2

West Sussex Div 2S

Plenty of chances were created by both sides and both goalkeepers excelled, with Jake Dean doing particularly well for Yapton.

Callum Doyle gave Yapton the lead on the stroke of half-time from a tight angle following a corner. Wittering equalised on 57 minutes and snatched their winner with 10 minutes remaining.

Hunston Res 2 Yapton Res 2

West Sussex Div 3S

A big improvement was achieved by Yapton following a 7-2 home defeat at the hands of the same opponents the previous week.

All the goals came in the first half with Frazer Beaumont first on the scoresheet on 20 minutes.and Tom Legge finding the net after 32, both goals being set up by Josh Lauder. Each time, Hunston hit back to level.

In the second half, Hunston built up pressure, but Yapton defended doggedly to earn their point.