FOOTBALL: Weekly County League round-up

THE County League programme was heavily affected by waterlogged pitches on Saturday but in the games that were played, Rustington Football Club became the first side to lose to Midhurst this season.

Midhurst had lost all 15 of their matches this season but they beat Blues 2-0 in Division 2 and Rustington joint boss Kev Short had no complaints about the result.

He said: "Collectively, we were terrible, I can't put my finger on why and I'll be looking for a response because that was not good enough and Midhurst fully deserved the points.

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"It's a setback because things were looking up but we need to work hard and back ourselves to get out of this."

Ashley Holloway gave Midhurst a seventh-minute lead and Blues then missed several chances to equalise.

Chris Kirkham fired wide, James Butt saw his effort cleared off the line and Ryan Hudson's shot was saved. Blues then had a penalty appeal waved away when Mike Hatch went down and, with Blues pushing for the equaliser, Holloway added Midhurst's second in the 86th minute.

RUSTINGTON: Clark; C.Matthews, Smith, Butt, Green; Duffy, Hudson, Bennett, Chris Darwin (debut); C.Kirkham, Smart. Subs: Hatch (Kirkham 65), Harris (Duffy 70), Withers.

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Lancing recovered from a poor first-half performance to grind out a 3-2 win at local rivals Storrington, also in Division 2.

Lancers manager Martin Gander admitted he was relieved his team were level at 1-1 at half'“time, and said: "We could easily have been two or three down at the break, I was just relieved to still be in the game.

"We laid into them at half-time and they showed character and stuck at it. We won ugly and Storrington were unlucky.

"I think our inconsistent form is down to a lack of experience. We've got good young players but sometimes they don't know how to go about changing a game. This time they did and our second-half showing was pleasing."

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Swans took the lead through Craig Grantham on 15 minutes and, after Lancing's Darren Boswell saw his snap-shot kept out by Gary Elliott, he equalised 10 minutes later from Rob Partridge's through ball.

Lancers edged the second half and Dan Griffin made it 2-1 five minutes after the break from another Partridge pass. Grantham equalised on the hour but Lancing took all three points when Dan Ford volleyed home a rare goal after Boswell's cross was half-cleared.

Storrington manager Ricky Hamilton said: "We should have won it, we were our own worst enemies with schoolboy defending. We gifted them all three goals and we won't achieve much by being as inconsistent as we are.

"We attacked very well but I felt we allowed the game to slip away for us. I'm disappointed because our forward play merited something and we were on top for large periods."

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STORRINGTON: Elliott; Davis, Blaydon, T.Carter, N.Sleat; Tasker, Rhodie, Ayres, Tidman; Grantham, Adebayo. Subs: Harding (Ayres 65), M.Carter (Tidman 70), Chilvers (Tasker 80), Hunter, Beaumont.

LANCING: Green; Borrer, Ford, Mighall, P.Proto; Boswell, Sims, Beard, Griffin; Partridge, R.Loversidge. Subs: Skipper (Sims 60), McCabe (Proto 75), Early (Partridge 80).

Steyning Town's four-game unbeaten run was ended by Little Common, who won 2-0, and Town manager Mark Dalgleish said: "It was a progression and I was disappointed we didn't get anything from it as we played well. The early injuries to Greg Hearne and Gareth Dutton disrupted us and our game plan went out the window.

"I thought we should have had a penalty when their keeper took Greg out, but the performance was encouraging and having James Pargeter back is a boost for us."

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Town dominated the opening half-hour and had several chances to go ahead. Nani Ali had an effort saved, Pat Rose fired over and Steve Coyle went close, before Common took the lead through Lewis Hole in the 40th minute.

Ryan Pratt missed a second-half sitter and Rose spurned a further chance before Jared Lusted added Common's second on the hour mark.

STEYNING: Ford; DeFreitas, Goodridge, Parsons, Dutton; Coyle, Pratt, Hourigan; Hearne, Rose, Ali. Subs: Pargeter (Hearne 30), Blackley (Dutton 45), Shelford (Pratt 85).

Clymping player-manager Dominic Di Paola bemoaned his side's lack of an out-an-out goalscorer as they remained in the bottom three following a 2-1 defeat at Loxwood.

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Di Paola said: "It was the same old story, we played well but missed a striker to put our chances away. I'm looking to bring someone in but they're not easy to come by. We were unlucky, but the goals we conceded were poor."

Istvan Gulyas fired Loxwood ahead midway through the first half and, after a miscommunication between Joe Stokes and Billy Rayner, Damon Aston made it 2-0 on the half hour.

Richy Moss played in Aaron Meehan to make it 2-1 with 10 minutes left, but Clymping could not find an equaliser.

CLYMPING: Oakley; Stokes, S.Di Paola, Young, C.Moss; Ghent, Shelley, Castro, Rayner; R.Moss, Meehan. Subs: D.Di Paola (Stokes 45), Gaskin (Ghent 75), Miller.

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The games involving Arundel, East Preston, Littlehampton, Shoreham, Southwick, Wick and Worthing United were all postponed.

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