League leaders hit rivals for six

Liam Ward's second goal of the season put the seal on Little Common's 6-0 win away to St Francis Rangers.

And it having triumphed 8-1 in September’s reverse fixture, it meant Macron Store Southern Combination League Division One leaders Common scored 14 goals in their two games against St Francis this season.

Harry Saville came in to replace the unavailable Jamie Crone in what was an otherwise unchanged starting line-up from Common’s previous outing against Mile Oak a fortnight earlier.

The Commoners started positively and enjoyed long periods of possession as they looked for an early goal. Sam Ellis saw an effort blocked and a Lewis Hole header fell the wrong side of the post.

The deadlock was broken in the 13th minute when a Russell Eldridge free kick found Saville. He jinked his way into the area before finding Wes Tate, whose turn and shot nestled in the net.

Hole had a chance to make it 2-0 but saw his effort saved and Ellis was denied by a last ditch tackle as he raced through on goal.

The home side almost equalised from a rare foray into the Common half but away goalkeeper Matt Cruttwell did well to keep out a low effort.

Common’s second goal arrived in the 39th minute when a neat interchange between Ryan Paul and Tate saw the latter feed the ball to Hole, who drove into the bottom corner of the net.

The Commoners almost added a third straight from the restart in the second half but Tate saw his effort hit the underside of the crossbar and bounce to safety following a neat pull-back from Paul.

The third goal came from a Tate corner, with James Maynard’s looping volley deceiving everyone and finding the top corner of the net.

Hole grabbed Common’s fourth following a neat pass from Adam Smith and the fifth was headed in by an unmarked Paul from a Tate corner.

The home side saw an effort hit the side-netting and Cruttwell also dealt comfortably with two long range efforts.

The scoring was completed in the 81st minute when substitute Liam Ward struck a tremendous shot from the edge of the area into the top corner.

Common could have added a seventh but Hole saw his effort saved and Ellis was unable to force home the rebound.

Common: Cruttwell, Paul, Walker, Winter (Ward), Maynard, Eldridge, Tate, Saville (Feakins), Hole, Ellis, Smith.

Southern Combination League Division One top half (played-points): 1 LITTLE COMMON 20-52 (+51 goal difference), 2 Langney Wanderers 19-44 (+35), 3 Wick 20-43 (+34), 4 Lingfield 20-42 (+34), 5 BEXHILL UNITED 20-34 (+19), 6 Selsey 18-32 (+13), 7 Mile Oak 19-32 (+5), 8 Ringmer 20-30 (+11), 9 Steyning Town 19-29 (+17).