An ill wind blows for Pagham at Langney

Pagham in recent SCFL action at Horsham YMCA / Picture by Steve Robards

After Ryan Davidson had broken the club’s scoring drought when he knocked home an equaliser in the 73rd minute, the Lions looked set for at least a point, but once again it was not to be and the club’s worst run in living memory carried on, for another week at least.

With Pagham kicking with the gale-force winds in the first half, they were finding great difficulty in keeping the ball down on the pitch. One man that did was Howard Neighbour who had two decent shots, one saved by the keeper, the other just over the bar.

And then disaster struck. On 30 minutes a long free-kick was played into the Lions penalty area, headed down and a completely unmarked Evan Archibald slammed it in from close range.

Comedy was to follow when Wanderers goalie Dan Hutchings took a goal kick at a particularly blowy moment, only to watch it just clear the area before turning back on itself and, climbing all the time, blowing over the keeper, over the bar, over the stand roof and into the distance.

There was just time for Andy Chick, playing in a much further forward position to normal, to dance into the Langney area, go past three defenders, only to see his shot blocked as he tried to blast it towards goal.

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The second half started with Pagham well on top, kicking against the wind, and making regular inroads into the home defence. Alfie Davidson was causing mayhem down the left wing and with a bit more luck could have had a couple of goals after powerful runs into the area.

Wanderers did fire a warning across the Lions bows when they hit the Pagham bar from around 35 yards out, but the Lions were soon pushing forward again.

The equaliser came in the 73rd minute, when a free-kick from Andy Chick was hooked towards goal by Jamie Horncastle and the half clearance was knocked into the goal by the marauding Ryan Davidson.

If anyone looked to be going on to win, it was Pagham who seemed to have the game under their control, until a full eight minutes into added time, Max Hollobone picked the ball up on the halfway line, moved a couple of paces forward and struck a ‘worldie’ into the roof of the Lion’s net. But that’s just the way it has been going for Pagham just lately.

Pagham; Matthews, Williamson, R Davidson, Ashmore, Selby, Horncastle, van Driel, Chick, Bingham (Hands), Neighbour, A Davidson. Sub not used: Hubbard.