Crumplin enjoys 'a great result'

Crumplin said: 'With Horsham YMCA losing against Three Bridges that was a great result.

'Six of my squad were unavailable at Hailsham and Darren Tidey who played and Jay Head who was on the bench both had ankle problems.

'It was a local derby, hard fought and probably nobody deserved to win.'

Crumplin expects to have most of his absentees back for tomorrow's visit from Worthing United, a game that will now kick off at 1pm and not 3pm as previously advertised.

The match will be preceded by a minute's silence in memory of John McWhirter, the club's honorary life president, who died shortly before Christmas.

The away fixture against Shoreham, originally scheduled for 3pm on Monday, January 2, will now be played the following day with a 7.45pm start.

Hailsham manager Kenny McCreadie was full of praise for his players.

McCreadie said: 'It was a good game and I told my players it was the best they have played both individually and collectively since I've been there.

'I had 11 men all playing well, they all did their jobs on the day.

'Our goalkeeper Russell Tanner had only one difficult save to make during the entire game and we had a couple of half-chances, but in the end it was a good draw. I think it was a point gained.

'The referee (Jorge Martins) was excellent, it was a local derby and he let certain things go.

'The players are looking forward to Saturday's trip to Three Bridges. I'm expecting something out of it and we have no injury problems.'

Newhaven manager Jason Tighe was delighted with his team's all-round performance in the 2-1 Boxing Day win over local rivals Peacehaven.

He said: 'It was a great game to play in with a good crowd and atmosphere, everyone played well. The crowd of 418 seemed pretty even in numbers between us and Peacehaven. I'd worked on a celebration if I scored but in the end I was too embarrassed to do it.

'We had worked on set-pieces in training and that's where the goals came from. To be honest for the first one I threw myself at the ball, saw a boot coming up towards my face and closed my eyes.

'The win has put us back into second in the table but I said to the lads after the game that we have to get a result at Little Common on Saturday for that to mean anything.'

Peacehaven boss Darren Guirey said: 'It was the worst we have played all season, my players let me down, we were shocking, but all credit to Newhaven, they were up for it. Hopefully it is just a blip and we can put it right at home to Bosham on Saturday. I have no injury problems but I might be making a few changes!'