Crows soar - and Chichester City's form is poor

Crowborough Athletic 2 Chichester City 1

Sussex League division one

CHICHESTER were condemned to their sixth consecutive defeat, going down to a 2-1 defeat at Crowborough.

The Crows took the lead on eight minutes when keeper Matt Evans saved Jack Turner’s shot but Tom Boddy converted the rebound.

A few minutes later it was 2-0, Sam Carrington turning in Tom Pearson’s cross.

It seemed Crowborough were going to run away with it, but as it turned out they were lucky to hang on to their lead at the finish.

City improved, with the Crows opting to sit back and try to defend their advantage.

Morgan Forry pulled a goal back on 56 minutes with a deflected effort and Jack Blatchford fired in a shot destined for the back of the net only for it to clip team-mate Ken Hagan.

Chichester can count themselves unfortunate not to have come away with a draw.

Joint boss Neil Sherlock said: “The lads showed a great commitment, passion and desire to achieve, and all of them gave 100 per cent which I was very pleased with, although we didn’t get the result we needed, they should be very proud of themselves.”

CITY: Evans, Boniface, Northeast, Hagan, Hibbert, Bradshaw, Blatchford, Watts, Taylor, Forry, Parsons. Sub: Knight.

Chichester City 0 Oakwood 3

Sussex Senior Cup R1

City fielded several fringe players and striker Morgan Forry was forced off injured after only 16 minutes.

In a scrappy midfield battle, both teams cancelled each other out for large parts of the contest before Oakwood took the lead on 39 minutes.

A foul by Perry Northeast gave the visitors a free-kick and debutant keeper Tom Cowell appeared to have Nathan Hayward’s long-range effort under control, but he lost his footing at the crucial moment and the referee adjudged that the ball was carried over the line with Gerald Manville claiming the goal.

Further second-half strikes from Manville and Toby Gilbert gave the Second Division strugglers a comfortable cushion.

Cowell was lucky to escape with a yellow card three minutes from time when he charged out of his goal and hacked down the advancing Farzad Bidgood.

CITY: Cowell, Knight, Bigwood, Brookes, Heath, Northeast, Potter, Parsons, Taylor, Forry, Watts. Subs: Lynch, Manners, Lambert.

Meanwhile, centre-half Lee Bradshaw has transferred back to his old club Pagham.

CHESTER BROWTON