Brighton, Worthing & District Football League is played to a finish

Deciding to have one division of 16 teams for their sixth season instead of the two smaller divisions of six and nine paid off for the Brighton, Worthing & District Football League.
League teams were glad to play the competition to a proper finishLeague teams were glad to play the competition to a proper finish
League teams were glad to play the competition to a proper finish

Teams were able to conclude their league programme by the end of April despite the loss of four months’ play through the pandemic.

The league wisely chose not to complete the unfinished 2019-20 cup competitions and the new season’s competitions were delayed and then cancelled.

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The league decided to ask sides to play each league opponent twice but to initially play one another once in case of problems arising from the pandemic, then to review the second half of the season after the Christmas break, worked well. The decision was then taken to play each opponent once only.

The league had started on the first Saturday of September as in previous seasons, although lost the reserve teams of Lancing United and The Lectern Lights to the Mid Sussex League so the clubs avoided playing both their sides in the one division.

League champions Northbrook folded and dropped out. However, Broadwater Athletic returned after two seasons in the West Sussex League, and with newcomers in AFC Fernhurst, Preston Park and Angmering Village Reserves, numbers increased by one.

Lancing United emerged as champions, two points ahead of Broadwater Athletic, and their early-season encounter produced a 4-4 draw. Both lost only once, to Diversity United and AFC Broadwater respectively. Lancing managed double-figure tallies of 12-0 v winless St Mary’s and 10-1 v Hangleton.

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Diversity United and The Lectern Lights registered wins of 10-0 and 10-1 against Clarendon Athletic and AFC Broadwater respectively.

Danny Coughlin (Lancing United) was the League’s top scorer with19 goals from seven appearances.

Although the League was represented by 15 of their 16 clubs in the Sussex Junior Cup, two were beaten in the first round only for the second round to be wiped out by the pandemic, first in November and again when rearranged for January 9. The competition was then cancelled.

The final league table was topped by Lancing United with 12 wins from their 15 games, and only one defeat.

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Their tally of 38 points put them two points clear of Broadwater, who won one game fewer.

Angmering Village Res, Ovingdean and The Lectern Lights were next, followed by Diversity, Hangleton, The View (Saturday) and Clarendon Athletic.

AFC Broadwater, Preston Athletic and Worthing Town Reserves were clear of a bottom four that comprised Brighton BBOB, Goring St Theresa’s, AFC Fernhurst and St Mary’s.