Burgess Hill Town 2, Billericay Town 1: Chapman hails 'really big win' as Cox departs

Burgess Hill earned a hard-fought three points at the Green Elephant stadium, moving Chapman’s side up to 17th in the league.

The Mid-Sussex team started brightly, striker Jonah Ayunga beat the offside trap and was set for goal before being brought down by defender Danny Fitzsimmons.

Dan Pearse calmly slotted home the resulting penalty, to give Burgess Hill the lead, which was doubled just before half-time when Jack Brivio pounced on Ayunga’s shot spilt by the Billericay keeper.

The Essex side were awarded a penalty in the 56th minute when midfielder Okwute Izuchukwu brought down forward Dipo Akinyemi.

Billy Bicknell sent keeper Josh James the wrong way to make it 2-1, but Chapman’s side held on, to give them a fourth victory in seven games.

Boss Ian Chapman said: “We dominated the first-half, it was important to get that second goal before half-time. We knew that we’d have to dig deep and we did that. It’s a really big result for us.

“It was one of those performances where we’ve buckled under the pressure in this league before, but I felt today we stood up and was counted for.

“I’m not saying deserved to win, but sometimes you get lucky if you work hard and we certainly got that today."

Burgess Hill remain several games behind the teams around them and travel to Suffolk side Sudbury on Tuesday night, in search of a third straight league win.