Golds climb to second

The game was the only one in the County League to survive the weather on Tuesday and, though Golds will be happy to have come from behind to beat an industrious Newhaven side, their kit man and groundsman now have a fair amount of work to do.

Newhaven started brightly as lively right-winger Lee Robinson sent in a dangerous cross after eight minutes but, in what was to be a feature of the night, no-one was there to add the decisive touch in the six-yard box.

Golds keeper Jon Hendrick had to be on his toes to thwart the danger of a weak back header three minutes later as he charged down Jack Webber’s attempt.

The hosts began to threaten with crosses failing to find a Gold shirt, before the visitors opened the scoring in the 22nd minute as Lawrence Edwards’ shot was prodded home by Robinson from close range.

Littlehampton almost levelled on the stroke of half-time when Sam Blundell laid the ball off to Jack Williamson, but the midfielder’s shot was too close to Jake Buss, who opted to punch the ball away.

Golds began the second period with far more intent, with Alex Kew crossing from the right wing but Scott Packer somehow failed to find the finishing touch and Ben Gray then crossed from the left only for Liam Humphreys to poke wide at full stretch.

The decisive move in the game came after 57 minutes as George Gaskin and Dan Simmonds were introduced for Blundell and Packer.

The pair took just three minutes to make an impact as Gaskin’s neat flick found Simmonds clean through on goal, and the striker made no mistake.

Simmonds was causing all sorts of problems for the Newhaven back line with his pace and got the wrong side of Adam Kneller. The centre-half clearly brought down the frontman, only for referee Barrie Small to dither over the decision and eventually award nothing, much to the annoyance of the home support after 73 minutes.

Simmonds did get his second a minute later, though, as he pressured Buss, won the ball and slid the ball into the empty net having dug the ball out of the quagmire.

Golds topped the win off as a result of Kneller tripping Gaskin in the box and Mitchell Hand sent Buss the wrong way from the penalty spot on 80 minutes.

Littlehampton assistant manager Richie Hellen said after the game: “We made six changes from Saturday’s side after the performance at Rye.

“I thought we did all right in the first half without really threatening, but George and Dan came on and proved a point, to be honest.”

Golds travel to fourth-from-bottom Lancing on Saturday.

LITTLEHAMPTON: Hendrick; Wiggans, Curnow, McKay, M.Hand; Gray, Humphreys, Williamson, Kew; Blundell, Packer. Subs: G.Gaskin, Simmonds (Blundell, Packer 57), D.Hand (Kew 81), D.Gaskin, Peters.