Young footballers die in crash

Grieving friends stood around the goalmouth at an unnaturally silent Gullivers sports field on Saturday and paid tribute to first team goalkeeper James Duffell and his life-long chum Liam Cox, brought in as a first team substitute only two days before he was killed.

The "inseparable" friends died when Liam's Ford Fiesta was in collision with a Renault Espace on the A2100 at Starr's Green, Battle.

The players, both 20, were returning from last Thursday evening's training session. They were heading for James' home at Battle. Liam lived in Hastings.

Police said the Fiesta was travelling towards Battle and the Espace towards Hastings. First on the scene was an off-duty Hastings police officer who suffered minor injuries as he tried to resuscitate James and Liam. The Espace driver, a 52 year-old St Leonards man, also suffered minor injuries.

This week Sidley was a club united in grief.

Their Saturday and Tuesday games were immediately cancelled. Flowers were taped to the goal-posts at Gullivers. A mass of flowers and tributes quickly built up at the crash scene.

Club chairman Dickie Day struggled for words to describe the feeling within the club.

"Everyone is absolutely devastated because they were two young and very likeable lads who had some really close friends within this club.It is an appalling blow and everyone here is thinking of both their families."

Dickie said: "Cancelling Saturday's and Tuesday's games was a unanimous thing. Nobody could have played. All the players from the first and second teams turned up on Saturday. At 2pm we had two minutes' silence for James and Liam around the goal. It was very moving.

"When I went out on Saturday morning there were already masses of flowers at the scene. Cars were arriving all the time with people coming to pay their respects. It's a heart-breaker.

"As a parent myself I would say that both James and Liam were nice lads you would be proud to call your sons. They were very close friends. They were inseparable."

Joint team manager Andy Laskey said: "You couldn't wish to get two nicer lads. They always had a smile on their faces.

"Before this Saturday's game, which is at home, we shall have another two-minutes' silence.

"We would like to have a permanent memorial for them both. Meanwhile, we are going to give James' parents his goalkeeper's shirt and Liam's his Number 7 shirt. For the rest of the season the goalkeeper's shirt won't have Number 1 on the back but 21 as a tribute to James."

James had been a student at Bexhill College. He was engaged on a tennis project called Spin For Serve at the time of his death, working with primary school children in Bexhill.