EP fight back to draw with Peacehaven

The fact that this game was preceded by almost biblical amounts of rain did not help a game that promised a lot, and despite four goals shared between two of the top sides in the Sussex County League, delivered little.

The surface was very greasy and this meant a game littered with stray passes from both sides, who would normally count the ability to string passes together as a strength.

The home side started the brighter and after just five minutes, Craig Grantham whipped a good cross from the left wing only for fellow striker Steve Davies to completely miss a free header from six yards which should have opened the scoring.

EP had more joy on the left as the tricky Nikolaos Kakolyris forced the visiting defence to be on their toes with an important clearance.

Peacehaven began to find their feet, however, with Rob O’Toole looking dangerous on the right wing and from set pieces, with EP managing to scramble an effort off the line after a quarter of an hour from a corner.

The visitors did open the scoring after 24 minutes with O’Toole and skipper Craig Hall combining well on the right for the latter to send a cross to the near post, where the experienced Wes Tate was allowed to turn and pick his spot past Anthony Ender.

Peacehaven should have doubled their lead two minutes later when Tate broke quickly from an EP corner, left Lee Barnard for dead, but could not get the ball beyond Ender, who tipped smartly over the bar.

Ender came to the hosts’ rescue again as half-time approached, although he was merely clearing up his own weak punch from a corner, but his save from O’Toole from point-blank range was excellent.

The second half continued where the first left off until a hopeful ball forced Josh James in the Peacehaven goal to flap, almost allowing Joe Shelley to pick up the pieces and tap home, but EP’s skipper was closed down before he could inflict any damage.

The visitors did double their lead on 65 minutes as a Tate shot was only half cleared by Ollie Hartley, which allowed Joe Dryer to fire in a cross that Carl Dunk could not fail to miss.

EP hit back almost straight away in slightly surreal fashion as Jordan Clark played Grantham in down the left, and in what appeared to be slow motion, the striker found the far corner of the net to give the home side some hope.

EP completed their comeback in the 87th minute as a strong run from Shelley was halted by James, but the ball broke for Grantham who found substitute Shaun Charles sliding in at the back post to maintain their eight-point advantage over the visitors at the top of the table.

EP boss Dominic Di Paola said: “We didn’t look threatening in the first half but looked better after the change early on in the second.

“Credit to the boys for keeping going, and for that we probably deserved a point.

“We’ve got to learn from that game and maybe change it a bit every now and then, as I thought we were a little naïve at times tonight.”

EP host Chichester in the Sussex RUR Cup on Saturday.

EAST PRESTON: Ender; Hartley, Pullan, Elliott, Axell; Barnard, Shelley, Clark, Kakolyris; Davies, Grantham. Subs: Charles (Davies 58), Boddy (Kakolyris 65), Edwards (Hartley 86), O’Hagan, Gibbs,