Duo return to Sidley

Chris Agutter and Kevin Rose are among the first batch of players to put pen to paper ahead of the 2012/13 Sussex County League Division One season.

Sidley manager John Lambert said: “It’s good to have them back and it shows we must be a half decent club because people do come back.”

Agutter, a ball-playing midfielder or full-back, has begun each of the last three seasons at Sidley, but spent part of the 2010/11 campaign at Little Common and ended the 2011/12 programme with Bexhill United after a brief spell with Eastbourne Borough reserves.

Bustling centre-half or centre-forward Rose, who has also played for Hastings United and Eastbourne Town, was with Sidley until joining Rye United towards the end of the 2010/11 season. He had a brief spell with Little Common late last term and his partner gave birth on Tuesday.

Of last season’s squad, Chris Rea, Dan Cruikshank, Josh Willis, Jason Taylor, Paddy Cody and Milton Miltiadou, who is now back from university, have all registered along with under-18s prospect Andrew Brown.

On the flip side, Bryce Masters and Allan McMinigal have been training with Rye United, and Brett Patton is trying his luck with Hastings United, while Lambert expects Lewis Hole to return to former club Little Common.

See tomorrow’s Observers for all the latest from around the area’s senior football clubs.