Chichester City beaten again - Bognor fire blanks - Selsey break into Villa

Chichester City 0 Hastings 2

Isthmian south east

A 53rd-minute penalty from Hastings’ Danny Parish on his debut and a second goal by sub James Hull deep into stoppage time condemned Chichester to a fourth league loss on the bounce and sent the Us nine points clear at the top of the table.

Ryan Davidson and Emmett Dunn returned to the City starting XI, with Kaleem Haitham and Tyrone Madhani dropping to the bench alongside U23s players Eric-Georges Dellaud, Charlie Oakwell-Boulton and Ollie Carroll.

There was nothing to choose between the teams in a goalless opening half where chances were at a premium.

An under-hit Rob Hutchings header back to his keeper gifted Ben Pope an early opportunity but Ben Pashley got in a timely block.

Hastings’ Tom Chalmers conceded a free-kick for handball and Lewis Hyde headed Hutchings’ poorly struck set-piece wide.

At the other end Ismaila Diallo, recently signed from Lancing, flicked on to Parish only for Chi custodian Kieran Magee to tidy up.

Diallo was the first to go into Adrian Harris’ notebook and then Tommy Cooney fired a free-kick into the two-man wall.

Hastings go nine points clear.

Clever skill from the mercurial Lloyd Rowlatt down the left set up Prichard for an effort that was deflected and four minutes later Josh Clack pulled a fine stop out of Louis Rogers.

Ben Mendoza found Rowlatt whose 37th minute attempt struck an opponent.

Jack Dixon won the ball off Dunn and tried to get his forwards in with a raking pass which was dealt with.

Ryan Worrall’s long-ranger had home fans’ hearts in mouths just before the break but it curled inches wide.

Mendoza and Finn O’Mara got a stiff talking to by Harris, the hosts’ midfielder cautioned.

Sam Hasler replaced Pope at the interval for United.

The deadlock was broken after Magee clattered into Parish and the visitors were rightly awarded a penalty.

Parish squeezed his spot kick into the bottom corner off Magee’s fingertips. Rambunctious away supporters behind the goal went nuts.

Magee was booked for his trouble as was Hasler five minutes later for a foul.

Hull replaced Diallo and Haitham came on for Prichard.

Hastings were reduced to ten men when Hasler was cautioned again for a crude challenge on Mendoza. Chi made a mess of the resulting set-piece.

Kenny Pogue, who grabbed one of the two goals in the reverse fixture, was brought on with ten to go for Knory Scott and Madhani replaced Chi skipper Jamie Horncastle.

A late effort spun off Craig Stone but Rogers had things covered.

In the four minutes of time added on an unmarked Hull slotted home Chalmers’ precision cross after the No6 jinked past a couple of players.

Chi travel to Whitstable on Saturday for an Isthmian south east match-up looking to end their losing sequence in the league.

IAN WORDEN

Folkestone 1 Rocks 0

Isthmian premier

Jack Pearce cut a frustrated though not forlorn figure at the final whistle as Bognor fell to a 1-0 defeat at Folkestone Invicta – and he had every right to be exasperated.

Along with coach Robbie Blake he saw the Rocks turn in a display that arguably merited a draw but they came away from the BuildKent Stadium with nothing other than some pride in their battling performance.

Folkestone v Rocks in pictures.

A 10th minute penalty tucked away by Alfie Paxman after Amadou Tangara was adjudged to have brought down David Smith in the box was all that separated the sides. Yet with a more lethal goal threat on the day the visitors could easily have grabbed at least a point.

That said, intricate, easy-on-the-eye approach play is all very well and good; crucially if you haven’t got a switched-on strike force then you’ll get very little reward – and this was the case against Neil Cugley’s well-drilled men as they maintained their march to a play-off place.

Offsides played a huge part in Rocks’ lack of potency and time and time again decent attacks were thwarted by sloppy runs in behind that were soon met with a play-stopping flag.

Joe Dandy had a glorious chance to bring the visitors level mid-way through the first half but his initial shot was parried by Timothy Roberts and the marauding Bognor defender larruped the rebound high, wide and anything but handsome.

Dan Gifford, the promising striker learning his craft with the Nye Camp aces on loan from Pompey, did have the ball in the net on the hour but once again an eagled-eyed linesman decreed that the goal shouldn’t stand due to yet another offside infringement. Two minutes earlier home attacker Ade Yusuff was similarly penalised after netting -- this time the flag coming to the rescue of the Pearce’s charges.

Resolute defending from the likes of Joe Cook and Craig Robson was admirable and proved vital in repelling a livewire Invicta vanguard but yielding nothing at the business end of the pitch meant that a loss was on the cards.

The impending misery of an away day defeat was compounded on 84 minutes when Ashton Leigh fouled Joshua Vincent and saw red when without doubt a yellow card would have been proved to be sufficient punishment for the severity of the crime.

Pearce said the number of times his attackers were caught offside was disappointing but that there were positives to take from the game in terms of industry and fighting for the cause.

How storms hit Sussex football grounds.

He said: “We have a very young team, especially up front, and the fact of the matter is that we are going to have to learn to be patient and not burst forward and then ruin the entire move through an eagerness to get to the ball. If we had have come away with a point nobody could have denied we deserved it but, frustratingly, we have conceded with the penalty and ultimately that has cost us dearly.”

No.2 Blake cited a “transitional period” as one of the key issues with the defeat. Speaking to Rocks Radio’s Peter Kelly-Sullivan after the game, he added: “We need to get to a situation where we are doing better things. We are struggling at the minute and look like a team that is mid table and going nowhere.

“But you can’t fault the players’ effort and commitment. From a supporters’ point of view, you want to see better results and see the team winning games but what you can’t say is that we didn’t work hard because we did.”

​CARL ELDRIDGE

Selsey 1 Montpelier Villa 0

SCFL division one

Selsey kept their league form on track after a cup defeat at Midhurst.

They had a good chance in the opening minute when a through ball from James Henton towards Jack North was only just cut out by a defender.

A corner by Bradley Higgins-Pearce eluded everyone and nestled in the far corner, giving the hone side the lead.

With a bit more care in the final third Selsey would have added to the goal.

Syd Davies in the home goal made a good double save to keep his clean sheet intact.

The second half continued with Selsey having the lion’s share of possession.

Bradley Dologhan and Owen Worsdell went close for the home side and with several set piece deliveries from Higgins-Pearce and Liam Bush the home side should have added to the lead.

Boss Daren Pearce said: “It was a pleasing performance from the home side but we should have been a bit more comfortable by taking a bit more care in the final third.”

STEVE BONE

Barnham Trojans 2 East Dean 2

WSL Championship south

Both sides squandered early chances but midway through the first half a long East Dean clearance was knocked on to Greg Webb who slipped in Aaron Freeman to fire home.

Trojans responded well andsoon made it 1-1.

Barnham started the second half well and their pressure paid off in the 71st minute when a corner whipped in from the left caused havoc for the Dean as a combination of crossbar and keeper led to the ball falling to a Barnham player, who scored.

The Dean continued to compete and a ball from Jason Houghton in behind the Barnham defence found sub Zack Dray, whose delightful lob lifted over the stranded keeper into the net.

The Dean had a couple of chances to win it, but it finished all square.

Midhurst made the long trip to Hailsham to find the pitch in no fit state for football.

Stags boss Andy Ewen said he could not believe no inspection had been made earlier in the day.

“When the match official arrived he had a look with his assistant, and once they looked we knew game was going to be off,” he said.

“It was totally the correct decision – my lads really wanted to play but safety comes first.

“Three-quarters of the pitch was fine buta quarter was a complete mess.

“When you walked over it you sank about three inches.

“We ended up training for an hour outside the ground and turned it into a good social.

“We had a bus and stopped off on the way back – credit to my assistant Dan Trussler who really did keep the lads in good spirits.

“In the next two weeks we have three really big games – at home to Roffey and away to Epsom & Ewell, while sandwiched between them is the quarter-final of the Aldershot Senior Cup away to Fleet Town.

“These next 2 league games really will determine where we will be – it’s exciting to be involved in a title chase.”

STEVE BONE

Chichester City Women 0 AFC Bournemouth Development 4

Chichester City Women suffered a 4-0 defeat at home to AFC Bournemouth Development.

The Cherries scored all four of their goals in the second half.

They went ahead on 53 minutes but Chi were in the game until Bournemouth ,ade it two on 75 minutes.

With only eight minutes left, Bournemouth scored the third goal of the game and in additional time, the away side made it four.

Until Bournemouth took control, City had carved out some reasonable chances, but their failure to take any cost them.

Next up for Chichester City Women is a trip to Abbey Rangers on Sunday 6th March.

MARCUS LEE