LATEST: FA asked to comment amid confusion over Littlehampton Town's Isthmian League stay ending
Littlehampton Town’s four-year stay in the Isthmian League is over… or is it?
Their relegation from the Isthmian south central division seemed to be confirmed in a 1-0 defeat to Hayes and Yeading on Tuesday night.
But there could be hope of a dramatic way out of the drop.
Joint boss Mitch Hand said today they had been told one step four club across the national non-league network would be reprieved – apparently because of a step three club leaving a league before the season started.
At present the Marigolds are top of the points-per-game table of the relegation-threatened clubs involved, so it could all come down to their final game – away to Horndean on Saturday.
The FA says no decision has been reached with regards to any extra club being able to stay up.
On Tuesday night it seemed to be something of an eerie end to their battle to stay up – the match was played behind closed doors following the abandonment of the original game on Saturday at half-time after trouble broke out involving players from both sides and spectators.
The Marigolds were 2-1 down when that game was scrapped – and things didn’t get any better for them in the rematch.
The 1-0 loss, with Brendan Matthew scoring the only goal on 23 minutes, leaves Mitch Hand and George Gaskin’s team four points below the safety line with only one game to play and therefore unable to climb out of the bottom four.
But fourth from bottom may yet be enough if talk of a reprieve for one lucky club at this level is correct.
It is the Marigolds’ form in the second half of the season that has hurt them. Since a brilliant 4-1 win at Bognor on New Year’s Day – when there were some talk that they could even push for a play-off place – they have won just twice, at home to Raynes Park Vale and Hartney Wintney.
So now the Sportsfield outfit will have to await their fate. They will need to go all out for the win on Ssturday – and hope for the best.
The Isthmian League said such relegation and promotion issues were for the FA to rule on and an FA spokesman told Sussexworld: “Club allocations in the National League System at Steps 3 to 6 will be made by the relevant committee following the conclusion of the season … no decision has been made at this point.”
If the Golds do not stay up they will need to prepare for a return to the Southern Combination League, which they left as champions in 2022 in the same season they got to Wembley in the FA Vase. Or they could be placed in the Wessex League, depend on the geographical make-up of leagues at different levels of the pyramid.
Littlehampton have done well to hold their own at step four since their 2022 promotion, but after three years in the Isthmian south east division, a switch to the south central league last summer has proved tough.