FOOTBALL: County League round-up (April 15)

ANDY BOXALL headed home a last-minute equaliser for Rustington Football Club on Tuesday evening in their 1-1 draw with Worthing United in County League Division 2.

Jon Tucker played a long free kick into the penalty area, Jason Wimbleton headed it on and Boxall was on hand to nod home from five yards for his sixth goal of the season.

Second-placed United had gone ahead with just 10 minutes left when Grant Philpott scored after Blues keeper Andy McCarthy had saved Julian Curnow's header.

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Other than that chances were few and far between and Blues manager Kevin Short said: "It was a very even game and both sides had just two or three half-chances.

"We deserved a point at least. We defended really well, although it was disappointing defending for their goal – although they probably thought the same about ours. It's a good point against a good side. If we'd played like that all season, we wouldn't be fourth from bottom."

RUSTINGTON: McCarthy; Tucker, Wimbleton, Neal, Green; Boxall, Hudson, Adams, Gibbs; C.Kirkham, S.Kirkham. Subs: Cox (S.Kirkham 20), Butcher (C.Kirkham 60), Matthews (Adams 80), Woodward.

Littlehampton slipped to a 2-1 home defeat to promotion-chasing Little Common on Tuesday evening in County League Division 2.

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Golds took the lead when Idriz Adedoja notched his 10th goal of the season from Sam Barrett's cross on 30 minutes.

Common broke clear to equalise two minutes before half-time and they got the winner on 60 minutes.

Littlehampton then got on top and pressed for an equaliser but Adedoja and Jamie Buckett were unable to convert half-chances.

Golds joint manager Gary Young said: "It was a very even game and both sides had chances.

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"It was a good game of football and a good advert for Division 2 football but they just had the rub of the green on the day.

"We put them under a lot of pressure to get the equaliser but just didn't quite have the guile up front to get it."

Littlehampton travel to Seaford on Saturday, before they meet local rivals Rustington on Wednesday at Wick's Crabtree Park with a 7.45pm kick-off.

LITTLEHAMPTON: Stoner; Young, McKay, Windsor, Hazell; Barrett, Tabor, Russell, Charman; Buckett, Adedoja. Subs: Manning (Tabor 70), Gritt (Barrett 80).

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Clymping remain on course for a top six finish in County League Division 2 after a 3-0 home win over local rivals Rustington on Saturday.

The victory delighted Clymping player-manager Dominic Di Paola, who said: "It was a good performance and we played really well. We had a few players out and it's nice to win one of our derbies. We've not done too well in them this year, so it was a good result.

"We dominated most of the game, although they could have had a penalty at 1-0, but it was one of those decisions which could go either way."

Joe Shelley put Clymping ahead on five minutes, before Rustington had a penalty shout turned down when Andy Boxall went down under a Danny Hand challenge.

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Billy Rayner doubled Clymping's lead from a Joe Stokes cross on 35 minutes and Stokes got the third on 62 minutes from a Billy Rayner pass. Dave Gaskin went close to a fourth but hit the bar.

Rustington manager Kevin Short said: "It was a poor performance and disappointing from us. We had some players pull out in the morning before kick-off and that disrupted our preparation and made a big difference.

"Credit to Clymping, though, they deserved to win. With the penalty shout, the referee made the decision 50 yards away, so how he could see it I don't know."

CLYMPING: Oakley; Biggs, Hand, Meehan, D.Di Paola; Shelley, Stokes, Castro, Rayner; Ghent, Bunting. Subs: Brown (Biggs 55), Moss (Ghent 60), Gaskin (Bunting 75), Peters, Miller.

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RUSTINGTON: McCarthy; C.Matthews, Smith, Neal, Butcher; Gibbs, Hudson, Woodward, Bennett; Boxall, Adams. Subs: Bashford (Bennett 10), Withers, Green.

Littlehampton lost 3-0 at title-chasing Rye in the same division, but joint manager John Suter had no complaints about his team's performance.

He said: "They're a good side and with the team we had out, it was always going to be difficult. It was an end-of-season performance and fully understandable in unmitigating circumstances. We lacked incentive and Rye were the better team."

Depleted Golds went in at half-time 2-0 down after goals midway through the first half from Duncan McArthur and Danny Leach.

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Debutant Sam Barrett missed a couple of chances for Golds, and Dominic Clarke wrapped the game up for Rye on 68 minutes.

LITTLEHAMPTON: Stoner; Tabor, O'Hagan, McKay, Young; Charman, Keen, Russell; Barrett, Adedoja, Lawson. Sub: Gritt (Keen 73).

Arundel were held to draws in Division 1 on Saturday at Mile Oak and at home to Peacehaven last Wednesday, when they lost a two-goal lead.

In the 0-0 draw at Oak, chances were at a premium in the first half, although Arundel went close when Scott Tipper's header was cleared off the line.

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There were more opportunities in the second period but Howard Neighbour saw his shot saved by Oak keeper Aaron Stenning and Josh Biggs fired wide, before Arundel keeper Ben O'Connor saved a late Chris Paine free kick.

Last Wednesday, Peacehaven scored twice in the last 10 minutes to grab a 2-2 draw at Arundel.

Tipper put Mullets in front and Matt Axell added the second in spectacular fashion on 55 minutes.

Gary Norgate sliced a cross into his own net on 82 minutes, then, in stoppage time, Tom Burton headed home to earn Peacehaven a point.

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Mullets boss Richard Towers said: "We played well, but the last 10 minutes summed up our season."

ARUNDEL v Mile Oak: O'Connor; Sneller, Walker, Pickford, Axell; Hardwell, J.Biggs, R.Biggs, Neighbour; Norgate, Tipper. Subs: Matt Huckett (Norgate 72), Grantham.

ARUNDEL v Peacehaven: O'Connor; Sneller, Walker, Jones, Boem; J.Biggs, Grove, R.Biggs, Axell; Neighbour, Norgate. Subs: Tipper (Boem 66), Grantham (Axell 80), Griffiths, Herbert.

East Preston emerged the victors in their mid-table Division 2 clash at Wealden on Saturday with a 2-1 win.

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EP manager Paul Curtis believed his side dominated the game but failed to take all their chances, and a late goal from Seaford led to a nervy finale but managed to hang on for all three points.

Curtis said: "We played really well and battered them for 85 minutes with chance after chance, but we didn't put them away.

"After we conceded, we dropped a bit deeper and they bombarded us until the end but we managed to see them off.

"We have Little Common on Saturday and the last time we met it was similar to this game, we battered them and only managed to get a draw, as we've had a bit of a problem with our finishing."

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Mark Burgess headed EP ahead at the far post from a corner on the half-hour mark.

Jehan Huet and Kevin Budge then both squandered one-on-one chances to put EP further ahead before the break.

After half-time, EP did double their advantage on 65 minutes when Budge was brought down in the penalty area and Huet dispatched the spot-kick.

EP's Asa Nicholson was then tackled just as he was about to shoot and Seaford pulled a goal back through Christoper Logan on 85 minutes.

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That spurred a big push from Seaford, but EP denied them an equaliser.

EAST PRESTON: Kason; Harris, Waller, Moss, Sutcliffe; Nicholson, Howard, Burgess, Da Costa; Budge, Huet. Subs: Beaney (Budge 83), Harrington (Burgess 60), Curtis.

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