Five-star Westies net another home win

An emphatic 5-0 win over Hurstpierpoint on Saturday means that Westfield have picked up 16 Macron Store Southern Combination Football League Division Two points from a possible 21 at The Parish Field. By contrast, they’ve taken just three from a possible 21 on their travels.

It took Westfield just six minutes to open their account against a second-bottom Hurstpierpoint side which had beaten them 1-0 in the previous weekend’s reverse fixture. Roberto Martellini beat his man on the right and delivered a low cross which was swept home by Emmanuel Okunja.

The same player doubled Westfield’s advantage in the 25th minute with a similar goal. This time Matt Dadswell delivered an inviting low cross from the right and Okunja again applied the final touch.

After Okunja scored two goals in the first half, central defender Steve Willis bagged a brace in the second period, both from set-pieces. His first was a close range volley after the ball had bobbled around in the box, but his second was probably a goal of the season contender - a first time volley into the bottom corner.

Devante Davis came off the bench to complete the scoring late on. Okunja was about to tap the ball home for his hat-trick after a save by Hurstpierpoint goalkeeper Martin Smith, but to the amusement of everyone else, Davis nipped the ball off his toes to score his first Westfield goal.

Westfield had plenty of opportunities to have added to their tally, but credit must go to Smith, who pulled off some very good saves, particularly in the second half.

By contrast, Westfield goalkeeper Connor Holland barely had a save to make all game.

Westfield manager Jack Stapley said: “It was a massive improvement on the week before. Having all the players back was a huge help, and it was as one-sided and convincing as the score suggests. It could have and probably should have been a lot more.

“When we went 4-0 up we switched off a little bit and cruised through the game, but other than that I was really happy with the performance, especially from the week before.”

Westfield are eighth in the table ahead of the trip to ninth-placed Ifield Galaxy tomorrow (Saturday).

“We’re now only eight points off the top with 16 games to go and all the top teams to play at home,” added Stapley. “You just don’t know what can happen.

“Everyone’s in agreement that we need to start getting a settled side each week, especially in the back four.”

Westfield: Holland, Akoto, Durrant, Winter (Ward), Miller, Willis, Hurst, Okunja, Ellis, Dadswell (Davis), Martellini (Easton).

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1 Make this website your homepage

2 Like our Facebook page at facebook.com/pages/Sport-Sussex

3 Follow us on Twitter @SportSussex

4 Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!