FOOTBALL: County League round-up (August 16)

Golds lost 2-1 and joint manager John Suter blasted his side's first-half performance, which saw them 2-0 down at the break thanks to Scott Day's brace.

He said: "Losing is bad enough but it's the way we lost which is disappointing.

"The first-half performance was unnaceptable, we were dreadful.

"But it was like chalk and cheese as we completly dominanted the second half but left it too late to pull one back"

After the break, Jerry Manning hit the post before Matt Russell netted with a great finish for Golds in the 81st minute, as they spent the second 45 minutes camped in Cobham's half.

Suter added: "We pressured them but couldn't get the early goal. But the job should have been done on Friday."

The sides had drawn 1-1 on Friday evening.

Cobham's Rob Wilson forced the replay with a 74th-minute equaliser after Ben Crawford gave Golds the lead on 34 minutes.

Golds' Danny Hand and a Cobham opponent were both red-carded following a scuffle early in the second half.

LITTLEHAMPTON (Tuesday): Askew; Ward, Crawford, McKay, Hazell; Peacock, Hudson, White, Burgess; Russell, Hand. Subs: Shaw (Burgess 45), Manning (Hudson 70), Cavalero (Hand 75).

(Friday): Stoner; Ward, Crawford, McKay, Hellen; Manning, Russell, White, Burgess; Hand, Power. Subs: Hazell (Hellen 45), Peacock (Burgess 70), Cavalero (Crawford 80), Robertshaw, Stone, Hardwell.

Wick put in a convincing performance to beat Combined Counties League side Chertsey 4-0.

Wick dominated the first half and eventually got the breakthrough when George Gaskin netted a thunderous header into the top corner from Scott Murfin's cross on the half-hour mark.

Phil Turner doubled the lead five minutes later before Wick made it 3-0 after 37 minutes. Following an excellent move, Murfin fed Ben Torode, who shot into the bottom right hand corner.

Murfin netted his second and sealed the win in the 70th minute when he lobbed Chertsey's goalkeeper from 25 yards after a ball over the top from keeper Alex Bryant.

Wick assistant manager Brett Torode said: "I was very pleased as it was my last game in charge before Vic (Short) returns and it was good to bounce back from Tuesday's defeat.

"We were on top for much of the opening half-hour but couldn't get the breakthrough, although I was confident when we got one we would go onto win it.

"We can now look forward to playing Horsham YMCA in the next round on August 30, which should be a good game."

WICK: Bryant; Ben Torode, Sharman, Biggs, Sutcliffe; Turner, Pearce, Swain, Barnard; Gaskin, Murfin. Subs: Beaney (Turner 42), Lawson (Gaskin 72), Sarsons (Torode 80), Wrigley, Charles.

East Preston recorded a shock 2-1 win over Combined Counties League Premier Division side Camberley Town, and EP boss Trevor Waller was delighted with his team's performance.

He said: "I'm pleased because we deserved to win and even though we knew it would be tough, we were always confident of getting a result.

"The lads played exactly as I asked them to, and it's an excellent confidence boost for the club."

EP went ahead in the 30th minute through Terry Dodd, who headed home Dale Campbell's corner.

Lee Farrell had an effort disallowed, Dodd fired over and Asa Nicholson went close before half-time.

Camberley equalised through a well-taken John Swift goal on 78 minutes but EP made sure they avoided a replay when Farrell fired home the winner in the last minute.

EP will meet Zamaretto League Division 1 South & West Gosport Borough in the next round.

EAST PRESTON; Kason; Da Costa, Saunders, Holman, Windsor; Nicholson, Payne, Campbell, Budge; Farrell, Dodd. Subs: Riley (Payne 55), Huet (Budge 85), Darwin, Rowland.

Arundel FC were robbed of a point at Middle Road on Tuesday evening after a late winner from Ryan Bradley secured a 2-1 victory for Division 1 rivals Shoreham.

The Mullets looked to be heading for a second consecutive draw in the league as Jason Wimbleton levelled with an excellent strike from 18 yards in the 85th minute to cancel out Lee Denyer's spectacular 67th-minute volley that put Mussels ahead.

Wimbleton's effort had looked like being enough for Mullets to earn a share of the spoils, but Bradley fired home Scott Marshall's cross with virtually the last kick of the game.

Mullets defender Matt Axell said: "We did all right, but lost concentration at the end which was a shame because I felt that we did enough to get a point. "We've lost some of our key players, but we're still a strong side so I think we should aim for the top six and a cup run.

"We're not reading too much into this result at this early stage and I think we'll still be up there come the end of the season."

Mussels, however, should never have needed to rely on late drama after creating a hatful of spurned first-half chances, which would have put them out of sight.

Dean Smith saw his header saved, Rob Boddy struck the post and Liam O'Brien had an effort cleared off the line by Dave Walker.

Arundel weathered the storm and came close themselves soon afterwards as Dan Towers headed narrowly over from Wimbleton's cross on 30 minutes.

Richard Hudson then thumped a free kick wide and another good save denied Marshall in the last action of a half in which Mussels should have found themselves three or four goals up.

Arundel were a team transformed in the second period, and almost made Shoreham pay for their missed chances in the 55th minute.

Scott Tipper's firm header was well saved by Michael Hunter in the Shoreham goal.

The breakthrough arrived just past the hour mark. Hudson's short corner was crossed by Bradley for Denyer, who rifled home a volley from an acute angle.

Arundel then stepped up a gear, and went close to an equaliser three minutes later when Rob Grove's effort was saved again by the excellent Hunter. Martin flashed a shot wide, and their pressure was eventually rewarded with an untidy equaliser in the 85th minute.

Gary Rowlands flicked on Matt Axell's long ball forward and Wimbleton fired home from 18 yards.

That appeared to be that, but Mussels had other ideas, and Bradley's late intervention sparked scenes of wild jubilation.

On Saturday, Arundel exited the FA Cup with a 3-2 defeat at Deal Town in the extra-preliminary round.

Mullets boss Richard Towers said: "It was a game we could, and should, have won. I'm disappointed to fall at the first stage, but the scoreline was fair and it was a tight game. Our defending was sloppy and we're all disappointed."

Deal went ahead after four minutes when Jason Brazier fired home, but their joy was short-lived as Mullets equalised seven minutes later when Ashley Martin swept home.

Biggs had an effort saved and Hardwell shot wide, before Josh Biggs lobbed Arundel 2-1 ahead on 59 minutes.

Martin was denied by a smart stop before Brazier headed home the equaliser just after the hour mark.

Shaun Brown clinched a place in the next round for Deal with the winner six minutes from time.

ARUNDEL v Shoreham: O'Connor; Walker, Sneller, Wimbleton, Axell; Biggs, Towers, Grove, Rowlands; Martin, Tipper. Subs: Harwood, Silvestre (Towers, Biggs 78), Foster, Hall, Hamilton.

v Deal: O'Connor; Hall, Harwood, Sneller, Walker; Towers, Hardwell, J.Biggs, Martin; Hamilton, Tipper. Subs: Axell (Hardwell 20), R.Biggs (Martin 78), Silvester (Sneller 80).

Rustington manager Pete Matthews was pleased with the spirit his side showed as they came back from a 2-0 half-time deficit to gain a point at Westfield in County League Division 2.

Matthews said: "We showed great spirit and, in the end, the result was fair because they had the first half and we had the second. It was a well-contested game and we could even have won it towards the end."

After goals from Darren Clarke and Peter Baker put Blues two down, Andy Boxall and Steve Kirkham had chances to put Blues back in it but both fired wide.

Boxall did halve the deficit from Joe Cumber's cut-back in the 70th minute, before Phil Churchill equalised 10 minutes from time with his first touch from Kirkham's cross.

Lee Gibbs was then denied a winner by a superb save in stoppage time.

RUSTINGTON: Grafton; Duffy, Bashford, Neal, Clayton; Gibbs, Cumber, J.Matthews, Bennett; Kirkham, Boxall. Subs: T.Matthews, Green (J.Matthews, Clayton 60), Churchill (Duffy 75), James.

Clymping player-manger Dominic Di Paola expressed his frustration at his side's poor finishing in their 2-0 defeat at Seaford in Division 2.

Di Paola said: "We just didn't take our chances and we are not scoring goals.

"We are going to get punished in this league if we don't start finding the goal. It's disappointing as they had three chances and scored two goals, whereas we must have missed 12 chances '“ it was ridiculous.

"We had about seven one-on-ones, we missed a penalty, hit the post and had a goal disallowed."

Aaron Meehan missed a penalty in the first 10 minutes before Richie Moss had a hatful of chances and Peter Brackley missed an open goal.

Ricky Mitchell gave Seaford a 28th-minute lead and Scott Dartnall made it 2-0 in the second half. Joe Shelley then had an effort disallowed for offside, and Di Paola said: "I'm frustrated as this was a winnable game, and they smashed and grabbed us."

CLYMPING: Oakley; D.Di Paolo, S.Di Paolo, Porter, Castro; Brown, Meehan, Shelley, Moss; Brackley, Barnard. Subs: Weston (Brown 65), Miller (Brackley 75), Mayhew.

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