Bexill eye top four spot – Little Common have mixed feelings at Steyning

The Pirates put further daylight between themselves and opponents Hassocks as they won 2-1 at The Polegrove.

Goals from Evan Archibald and Joe Summerbell completed a comeback after the Robins scored first.

Manager Ryan Light said: “It wasn’t pretty, we knew it would be a scrap and we knew we would have to play the long game as teams like Hassocks aren’t ones you can put to bed early.

"At 0-1 down I was so impressed with our strength of character to not panic and stick to the game plan, and we got the rewards for that.“It’s now a very important weekend ahead fixture wise with Roffey (at The Polegrove) on Saturday and Little Common (away) on Monday morning.

" Despite both teams being below us we won’t be taking either game lightly.”

Common earned a point at fifth-placed Steyning, surpassing their total points from last season with five fixtures still left.

Lewis Hole scored Common’s goal but they succumbed to a late sucker punch after going down to ten men, meaning the points were shared at The Shooting Field.

Manager Russell Eldridge said: “After the game it felt like a defeat conceding so late in the game. I thought first half we played well and created some decent opportunities, had we added a second goal in the first half the game would have been different.

"Our goal was a good counter attack where Sam Ellis travelled over half the pitch before squaring to Lewis Hole who got ahead of his marker.

"The game changed for us when we were reduced to ten men, despite this we stayed compact and defended well when needed.

"The nature of the goal was tough to take but credit to the group as we worked extremely hard showing great resilience.

"It took us past our points total from last season and with five games left we’ll be looking to add to this total. We now have a tough schedule.”

Common go to YMCA tomorrow, host Bexhill on Monday and visit Alfold on Wednesday.