FOOTBALL: Clymping held in a thriller

He said: "It was so frustrating as neither team could defend.

"But, to be honest, we were a one-man team tonight and if it wasn't for Richy Moss, we would have lost this game easily."

The match was an open one from the first whistle, and with only eight minutes on the clock, Moss opened the scoring. He collected a floated free kick from his skipper, Seb Di Paola, and rifled in.

However, the lead lasted only a couple of minutes before Lee Garnham finished a good Lancing move.

This sparked a Lancing goal rush as Garnham moved his team ahead when he poked the ball over the line after excellent work from Michael Sims, and then set up teammate Darren Beard to make the score 3-1 in just the 20th minute.

Garnham was having a big effect on the match, but could not prevent his side conceding again when Moss was given far too much time and space to clinically sweep in from close range.

Incredibly, Clymping managed to square the match inside the half hour when Alex Bigg's long distance free kick dipped agonisingly past Lancing gloveman Steve Allfrey to make the score 3-3.

In a breathless 45 minutes of football, more schoolboy defending from Lancing almost handed the half-time advantage to Clymping, but Moss saw his effort sail inches wide.

The second period started in a similar pattern to the first, as both teams pushed forward to snatch the initiative. Clymping midfielder Billy Rayner scored to give his team a 4-3 lead, but this was again cancelled out by the impressive Garnham, who notched his third of the evening when he showed a cool head to slide the ball past Clymping keeper Michael Oakley.

Clymping looked the more likely to edge ahead in the last 15 minutes, especially after Lancing centre forward Dan Griffin was forced to replace the injured Allfrey in the Lancing goal. However, despite the best efforts of both teams, neither could land that knock-out blow.

Dejected Lancing manager Martin Gander said: "It's disappointing to score four at home again and not win the game. We've given away so many points this season."

On Saturday, Clymping grabbed an injury-time equaliser through David Gaskin to draw 2-2 at home to Little Common.

Gaskin knocked the ball home after a Danny Hand effort had hit the bar.

Clymping boss Dominic Di Paola admitted he thought his side had lost after Lewis Hole had given Common a 2-1 lead with just four minutes left.

Jared Lusted fired Common ahead on 11 minutes before Rayner converted a penalty to level seven minutes into the second half.

Di Paola said: "We lacked a cutting edge and energy and it was a pretty disappointing performance.

"If we'd played properly, we'd have won but we didn't deserve to."

CLYMPING v Lancing: Oakley; Stokes, Castro, S.Di Paola, Biggs;, Ghent, Rayner, Young, Shelley; Moss, Miller. Subs: Meehan (Ghent 65), Quirosa (Biggs 75), Gaskin (Miller 80).

v Little Common: Oakley; Biggs, S.Di Paola, Young, Stokes; Moss, Castro, Shelley, Rayner; Ghent, Miller. Subs: Hand (Miller 55), Brown (Rayner 60), Gaskin (Moss 65), D.Di Paola, Francis.

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