FOOTBALL: County League round-up (August 26)

RUSTINGTON Football Club shared the spoils with Southwick in an entertaining scoreless draw in County League Division 2 on Tuesday evening.

Blues hit the post and had several other efforts saved, but both teams had to settle for a deserved point apiece, leaving Rustington with 10 from their first six games.

Rustington had made the better start and hit the post twice in the opening 20 minutes, first through James Bennett, then a curling Simon Clayton effort.

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Wickers slowly came back into the game, though, and the re-signed James Wotherspoon, from Lancing, saw his low drive saved by impressive Rustington debutant keeper Dean Fuller, deputising for the injured Andy McCarthy.

Both teams continued to trade chances in an absorbing first period. Southwick's best chances fell to Jordan Saunders, who fired just wide, Cameron McClymont, whose header was smartly saved, and Wotherspoon again, who was also denied by Fuller.

For Blues, Chris Darwin's long-range effort went just wide, Matt Huckett's header was saved by Piers Walsh, and Adam Bibb headed just over.

Both keepers were at their best to ensure the half remained scoreless, and Southwick's impressive Jay Tidey ran the show for his side from midfield. If the first period was all end-to-end action, then the second period was a battling war of attrition, with chances at a premium.

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Darwin fired into the side netting, and Wotherspoon went close, but the well-committed nature of the two sides came to the fore with a series of niggling fouls and late tackles, although Wickers looked the more likely side to win it, and Fuller came to his side's rescue again with a smart double save from Josh Wells and Scott Hunt, which proved to be the last action of note.

Blues manager Brett Torode said: "The draw was a fair result, we had our chances, they're a lively side and I'm pleased with the clean sheet. We started well, and it was a decent game between two well-committed sides."

RUSTINGTON: Fuller; Butcher, Neal, Wimbleton, Green; Bennett, Bibb, Clayton, Darwin; Huckett, Boxall. Subs: Harwood (Bibb 68), C.Matthews (Huckett 83), Morten, Jones.

Littlehampton suffered their second 4-3 defeat of the season on Tuesday evening when they lost at new Division 2 leaders Lancing.

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Having lost by the same scoreline at Worthing United earlier in the season, Golds trailed Lancers 4-1 at half-time before they pulled two late goals back.

Lee Garnham headed Lancing into an 11th-minute lead from Wayne Joseph's cross.

Nathan Peacock lobbed home the equaliser shortly afterwards after Tom White's excellent crossfield pass.

Golds were level for just two minutes as Dan Turner smashed home a 25-yarder, before Shaheen Sadough tapped home Lancers' third on 20 minutes.

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The fouth came fortuitously when Golds' Ross McKay's intended pass to Daryl Wollers hit the referee and Darren Annis pounced to net from 20 yards.

Littlehampton substitute Jason Jarvis netted with a stunning 25-yarder in the final minute and then headed home Dave Gaskin's cross in injury-time, but there was no time for Littlehampton to create an equalising chance.

Golds are at AFC Uckfield in the league on Saturday.

LITTLEHAMPTON: Askew; Young, Crawford, McKay, Bennett; Peacock, White, O'Hagan, Wollers; Boutwood, Adedoja. Subs: Colle))nder (Wollers 65), Jarvis (Boutwood 70), Gaskin (Adedoja 75), Hazell, Schneider.

Clymping crashed 7-1 at former boss Dominic Di Paola's Worthing United side, who included several former Clymping players, on Tuesday.

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Two goals from Joe Shelley and one from Craig Peters gave United a 3-0 half-time lead.

Gavin Jones netted shortly after half-time and Shelley completed his hat-trick before Clymping got a goal back with 20 minutes left.

Following a foul in the penalty area, Marcus Robertshaw's penalty was saved and Kevin Budge tapped home the rebound.

Ryan Hudson soon got United's sixth and Jones got his second with five minutes left.

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Clymping joint manager Rob Burge said: "We made a few mistakes but we had a lot of players missing and the scoreline doesn't reflect the game. There's no one to blame – we win as a team and lose as a team."

Clymping are at Westfield on Saturday and travel to Midhurst on Tuesday.

CLYMPING: Challen; Howard, Kelly, Jarrett, Barber; Gibbs, Milner, Barnes, Matthews; M.Robertshaw, Budge. Subs: Charles (Kelly 65), Aghaeze (Matthews 70), Churchill, Gray.

East Preston built on their excellent win over Worthing United last week with an impressive win at hotly-tipped Seaford in County League Division 2 on Saturday.

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Aaron Farrier netted the game's only goal on 70 minutes, and EP held on to inflict Seaford's first defeat of the season.

EP assistant manager Paul Bird said: "It was a good win, and after the great win in midweek we said to the players that we wanted them to carry it on and they did.

"We could have won by three or four and they couldn't have complained. We were better than they were and it was a pleasing win."

EAST PRESTON: Souch; Rahaman, Stideford, Windsor, Sutcliffe; Howard, Campbell, Manning, Banfield; Farrier, Burgess. Subs: McCleod (Manning 65), Blackwood (Rahaman 70), Steele (Howard 88), Curtis, Dickson.

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Clymping joint manager Phil Churchill slammed his team's performance after they went down 4-1 at Steyning.

He said: "It was our worst performance of the season, and an unacceptable defeat.

"They were beatable, but we were awful, and it was one of those days."

Ryan DeFreitas put Steyning ahead, but Clymping equalised through Marcus Robertshaw's looped finish on 20 minutes. Ben Wales made it 2-1 to Town, and Sesy Blackley then sealed the points with a brace to complete the scoring.

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Churchill added: "We didn't defend well and all four goals could have been prevented, if we were switched on."

CLYMPING: Challen; Howard, Hotson, Blackman, Churchill; R.Robertshaw, Milner, Barnes, Matthews; M.Robertshaw, Budge. Subs: Gibbs (Matthews 60), Aghaeze (Milner 70), Kelly, Palmer.

James Laing's injury-time goal denied Arundel all three points in a 1-1 draw at Hassocks in Division 1.

Mullets had looked on course for all three points through Barry McCoy's 65th minute header. But when Luca Coleman-Carr was sent off, that led to a late siege, and Laing headed in from a Lee Waterhouse free-kick.

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Following their goal, Mullets had several chances to extend the lead.

Coleman-Carr had an effort saved, Matt Axell was also denied and Howard Neighbour shot wide.

Gary Norgate also went close and Axell clipped a post, but Laing's late intervention denied them the win.

Arundel assistant manager Simon Butler said: "We played really well, and it feels like a defeat.

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"We dominated throughout and the sending-off changed the game. With 11 on the pitch, we would have won. It was a 50-50 challenge, which Luca was entitled to go for, so it was an odd decision. They're not a bad side, so I suppose a draw is a good result, but we're disappointed not to have won."

ARUNDEL: O'Connor; D.Walker, McCoy, Sneller, Hall; Hardwell, Axell, Gardner, Neighbour; Norgate, Tipper. Subs: Coleman-Carr (Hall 55), Turney (Hardwell 62), Griffiths.

Littlehampton boss John Suter labelled his team's performance as "unacceptable" as they fell to a 2-0 defeat at Westfield in Division 2.

David Pugh headed the home side in front on nine minutes, and although Golds missed several chances through Joe Charman and Nathan Peacock, Dominic Cruttenden sealed the win for Westfield with three minutes remaining.

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Suter said: "It was very disappointing and not good enough, I felt they were a beatable side and we didn't do ourselves justice. They're a physical side and we were bullied a bit.

"It was disappointing and unacceptable."

LITTLEHAMPTON: Askew; Charman, Crawford, Young, McKay; Bennett, White, O'Hagan, Peacock; Boutwood, Adedoja. Subs: Wollers (Crawford 62), Jarvis (Adedoja 64), Hazell (O'Hagan 80), Gaskin, Tabor.

Rustington went down 2-0 at Lancing on Saturday in Division 2.

After a tight opening half an hour, Tom Pickford put Lancers ahead after he ran onto a through ball and fired home.

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That was the way it stayed until the hour mark, when Shaheen Sadough scored his first goal for Lancers after Darren Annis squared to him.

Ben Harwood and Matt Huckett made their Blues debuts.

RUSTINGTON: McCarthy, Green, Neal, Bibb, Butcher, Harwood, Bennett, Jones, Heater, Morten, Boxall. Subs (used): Matthews, Sayers, Huckett.

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