Bexhill, Little Common, Hollington and Sidley win - your East Sussex football recap

Sidley United 4 Westfield 1

MSFL Premier Division

Sidley United produced a battling second half performance to claim what could turn out to be a huge three points in a potentially decisive afternoon in the MSFL title race.

Both teams observed an impeccable minute’s silence before kick off in honour of Westfield’s manager Mark Stapley’s wife, who sadly passed away last week.

Westfield travelled to table topping near neighbours, Sidley, on the back of a morale boosting win over Sedlescombe.

Crowhurst punish Punnetts.

The Westies started brightly and seemed to have caught Sidley cold. Sidley couldn’t get to grips with the trickery and pace shown by a determined Westfield side.

The Blues found the first half a struggle and Westfield were well in the game.

Eventually Sidley did take the lead when the ball came through to Josh Elliott-Noye, who arrowed a low strike into the corner of the net on 18 minutes.

But Westfield dug in and had a great chance to level when Dan Hutchins had to make a smart one-on-one save from George King.

Westfield did eventually get their reward with the goal of the game. Kyle Young turned well in midfield, before laying it to debutant Reece Johnson to tee up Stefan Davies on the left.

His inch perfect cross was headed home by Josh Pickering to leave the teams level at half-time.

With news coming through that title rivals Ringmer were also drawing away to AFC Southwick at half time, Sidley knew they couldn’t afford to drop points.

The second half started brightly again for Westfield. But Sidley’s set piece deliveries causing problems.

Sidley took the game to Westfield at the start of the second half. On 60 minutes, they took the lead as a corner was flicked on by Paul Rogers and headed home by Zac McEniry.

We won't beat ourselves up over loss to Hastings.

Only then did Sidley fully settle down and subsitute Tyler Capon made it 3 - 1 when he finished smartly on 73 minutes.

Westfield rallied and Pickering and Johnson both could have added to the tally. Their shots ended up agonisingly the wrong side of the upright.

A number of stoppages for fouls from both sides disrupted the flow of the game and from one such foul on the edge of the area, Lee Carey struck Sidley’s fourth with a direct free kick low into the far corner on 80 minutes.

This was a huge result as Sidley earned three points from a game that at one stage could easily have got away from them. Their title advantage was boosted with Ringmer losing 2-1 to Southwick, meaning the Blues now hold a four-point lead with a game in hand.

This week they will try for the third time to get their final away league match at Hollington United played.

As for Westfield, 4-1 was harsh on them, but with a massive month coming up against teams in and around the bottom, they will take heart from this performance, albeit not the result.

Westfield chairman Jack Stapley thought that the scoreline was harsh on his players: “We played really well for 75 minutes, pressed and made it difficult. Had Reece or Josh’s chances fallen the right side of the post we would have been in for a grandstand finish. I’m not disheartened by that result and I am proud of the way the lads played.

“We can take real positives into the next month of games, knowing we need four wins from eight to make sure we stay in the division.”

Hollington United 1 Rotherfield 0

Mid Sussex premier

Hollington United welcomed Rotherfield to The Gibbons on a sunny afternoon hoping to turn the corner from what had been a tepid start to 2022.

Hollington were able to field a strong side with the exception of manager Asher Grindle donning the gloves after a late withdrawal.

In a game of few chances played on a pitch not conducive with free flowing football the Lions almost drew first blood when the ball fell kindly to Jordan Harley from a corner, but unfortunately his connection with fresh air and not the ball meant the chance was lost.

It was Hollington looking dangerous from set pieces and Gyimah Asante headed narrowly over from another corner when well placed from six yards.

Perhaps the key moment in the first half came when the Rotherfield No9 found himself one on one baring down on the Hollington goal but his powerful near post effort was met by the strong wrist of Grindle who saved smartly to keep the scores level. The second half was perhaps even more cagey than the first but it was Hollington who would eventually find a way to take home all three points.

Superb play from the games stand out player Koby Asante saw him roast his man on the right flank before delivering a tantalising ball across the face of goal which was met by Jamie Crone at the back post whose poacher’s finish cannoned into the top corner.

Tired legs and a deteriorating pitch meant that meaningful action was limited for the remainder of the game and Hollington closed up shop with the minimum of fuss.

Manager Grindle said: “We’re extremely relieved to get the win not least because playing in goal is absolutely horrific!

“To the lads’ credit we kept things tight and limited them to one chance all game which is something we haven’t done in recent weeks.

“There are however still a few issues that are abundantly clear particularly from the different perspective that I had.

“The aim now is simply to finish the season as far up the league table as possible and with a cup quarter final to look forward to maybe even a run at some silverware.”

Bexhill United 2 Horsham YMCA 0

SCFL premier

On a sunny afternoon at The Polegrove, Bexhill returned to winning ways against Horsham YMCA.

Bexhill started the brighter and took the game to the visitors and this resulted in great work by Aaron Cook who after just four minutes burst through the opposition defence and with just the keeper to beat unselfishly passed sideways for the supporting Jack Shonk to roll the ball into the empty Horsham net.

This seemed to be the wake up call Horsham needed and they started to dominate possession and looked a bit sharper all round the pitch without creating many clear-cut chances.

Despite looking second best for long periods during the first half it was in-fact the home side who still looked the most likely to score with Evan Archibald seeing a decent effort roll agonisingly wide having beaten the on rushing keeper and Jack Shonk narrowly shooting over after chipping the keeper from 25 yards.

Bexhill raised their game after the restart and looked far more comfortable in possession and started to play with more purpose.

Chances were created by the home side at an alarming rate and a mixture of un fortunate finishing, good goalkeeping and a linesman’s flag kept the scoreline at just one until in the 74th minute an exquisite defence-splitting pass from Bradley Pritchard found Shonk on the edge on the Horsham penalty area.

Wth a lot still to do the prolific wide man rolled his marker and slotted into the bottom corner to add yet another goal to his eye-catching tally of 32 for the season.

This was another impressive home win for Bexhill United in their first season back at this level for over 30 years and moves them on to 60 points from 30 games played with eight games remaining.

Boss Ryan Light said: “ It was an important three points, I think we looked a little bit undercooked in the first half fitness wise having not played for a couple of weeks and that’s something we will be working on.

“But I thought we were very good in the second half. Horsham are a really tough nut to crack and they looked much sharper than us for half an hour in the first half so to keep a clean sheet and pick up three points was pleasing.”

Steyning 0 Little Common 1

SCFL premier

With the exception of the returning Matt Cruttwell in goal, Common named an otherwise unchanged starting line-up to that from their previous outing at Alfold a fortnight earlier. In a fairly even open quarter neither keeper was really tested with Sam Ellis seeing an effort blocked for Common whilst two long range efforts for the hosts failed to trouble Cruttwell.

Common looked to make use of their wide players with Ellis and Freddie Warren proving a constant threat with the latter seeing a cut back cleared to safety after driving into the box. Lewis Hole, on his 550th appearance for the club, was inches away from getting his head on a Jamie Bunn through ball before the match was brought to a halt following an injury to the Steyning striker after a collision with Cruttwell just before half time.

Common started the second half looking a lot more threatening with Warren hitting the post from a tight angle before Hole saw an effort pushed onto the bar by the home keeper. The hosts best chance came courtesy of a free header in the six yard box but Cruttwell did well to turn the effort round the post. The deadlock was broken in the 67th minute when a Warren delivery from the right deceived the keeper and allowed Ellis to slot home at the far post.

Ellis almost doubled Common’s lead when his driving run and shot brought a smart low save from the home keeper. The hosts did have chances of their own with Cruttwell tipping a looping effort over the bar before a deflected effort from the edge of the area dropped to safety. Another injury to a Steyning player saw a further delay in proceedings but Common were able to see out the remainder of the game to clinch the points and stay on course for their highest league finish in the club’s history.