Blues unbeaten

RINGMER achieved a season's trilogy of unbeaten match-ups with mighty Burgess Hill on Tuesday with a resounding 2-0 away win.

The price to pay, however, was The Blues' 13th red card of the season.

Player/coach Lee Cox was sent off for only the second time in his career after 84 minutes of this table topping clash when the former Worthing maestro squared up to Hillians' sub Lee Isaac. 'The guy just elbowed me,' Cox claimed afterwards, 'I grabbed hold of him and got sent off for the reaction. The linesman saw it but these things happen.'

In a game that had only pride to play for, the visitors showed enough guile to subject the weakened champions without stars Daren Newman, Phil Churchill and Steve Harper to a follow-up defeat hot on the heels of the 4-2 League Cup semi-final mauling.

After a relatively even start, the final half-hour of Gary Croydon's reign at Leylands Park was spent on the back foot. Shaun Grice's pile-driver on 61 minutes was met with a flying Pat Gannon save before a Damion Dobbyn corner kick was glanced towards goal by Tony Holden only to be cleared off the line.

Grice hammered another effort against the crossbar which did well to stay in one piece before Holden stepped up with 17 minutes to go but his arching shot was off target.

Finally, after 81 minutes, Dobbyn, in another tumultuous performance, had no option from 25 yards but to shoot. It left Gannon standing and Ringmer deservedly led.

Events were rounded off fittingly by Holden who scored from Grant Bean's unselfish pass with a shot on the turn sounding out a warning to The Hillians in 2003.

Chairman Richard Soan said: 'If we'd have applied ourselves like we did tonight in all our games and not lost a number of stupid matches, we'd have been a lot closer to Burgess Hill in the table. We just haven's had the consistency.' Ringmer: Cheal, Bean, Dobbyn, Davies, Cox, Garrod, Townsend (Longley 58), Mears (Howarth 65), Grice, Holden, Martin. Unused: Carey. MoM: Dobbyn.