Little Common edge thriller … Pagham stun the Crows … YMCA hold Town

Little Common 4 Lingfield 3

A Finley Chapman goal four minutes into injury time saw Little Common clinch a much needed three points with a 4-3 victory over Lingfield on Saturday.

The Commoners came into the match on the back of four consecutive league defeats and their afternoon got off to the worst possible start when the visitors took the lead with just two minutes on the clock when a cross from the left nestled into the far corner of the net.

This seems to galvanise the Commoners and they went onto dominate proceedings with Sam Cruttwell forcing a good save from the Lingfield keeper before Jack McLean dragged an effort wide.

The equaliser did arrive in the 13th minute when a loose ball from a corner was swept home by McLean. It was not long before Common were ahead when a superb run from left back Josh Turner saw him beat two defenders before curling an effort into the far corner of the net from just inside the area.

McLean saw a penalty appeal waved away before Common added a third when a ball into the area saw the visiting keeper save Jamie Bunn’s initial header but Lewis Parsons was on hand to head home the rebound.

Common continued to control proceedings but the visitors almost pulled a goal back in the dying minutes of the first half forcing Common keeper Tommy Sceal into a double save.

The second half began with Common pushing for a fourth goal and Parsons saw an effort flash across the goal before Lingfield turned the game on it’s head with two goals in the space of five minutes to make it 3-3.

The first came from an effort on the edge of the area which left Sceal unsighted as it travelled through a host of players and the equaliser bouncing off the post and onto Sceal before finding its way into the net.

Both teams went for the victory with chances coming at both ends, Sceal did well to save a one-on-one with his feet whilst at the other end Lewis Hole saw a header cleared off the line before dragging an effort wide when well placed. With the match drawing towards its conclusion Lingfield were reduced to ten men before Sam Ellis saw his powerful drive pushed around the post.

There was still time for one last Common attack and when Cam Thompson played the ball through to Chapman and the debutant rifled Common into the lead with a sweetly struck effort to the keepers left.

Crowborough Athletic 0 Pagham 1

by Brian Bigwood

Pagham travelled to Crowborough on Saturday to face the Crows, who were leading the pecking order in the SCFL by six points and with only one defeat in their last 14 games.

It was therefore no surprise that Crows started strongly creating several chances – but Connor Kelly came to the rescue each time.

Then the Lions broke away only for Davidson to be scythed down as he tried to play a ball out to Kazlauskas, who was always going to be beaten to the ball by the defender> But the referee considered Pagham had got some sort of advantage and didn’t give a free kick.

Philips immediately gave away a soft foul that he was surprisingly booked for and then Simmons led the protests about the free kick which wasn’t given, and the booking for Philips. His protests led to a sin-binning after only six minutes.

However apart from one or two scares, shorthanded Pagham survived the 10 minutes quite comfortably and a strong display by Wollers, Pointing and Heath in defence kept the Crows at bay for the rest of the of the first half.

The Lions had not created much going forward, but two minutes into added time credit goes to Jamie Carroll who valiantly chased a long ball only for the Crows defender to fluff his header back to the keeper and Carroll pounced on his mistake to lob the keeper for the lead.

The second half was more of the same 100% effort by all the Lions, frustrating Crowborough. But it looked like that effort was in vain when in the 63rd minute the Crows were given a soft penalty, but Sinclair stepped up and smacked the ball against the bar to preserve Pagham’s lead.

The Lions saw out the rest of the game for a marvellous win on the road, with one or two more good saves from Kelly and some sterling defence, this despite losing Kazlauskas with a second yellow card in a late flashpoint with a Crows player, who received a straight red.

Lions: Kelly, Heath, Hauxwell, Phillips (Carroll), Pointing, Wollers, Davidson, Jefkins, Simmonds (Kardos), Neighbour (Mbela), Kazlauskas. SUBS Carroll (Chipp-Smith).

Horsham YMCA 0 Eastbourne Town 0

by Martin Read

Don’t be deceived by the scoreline – this was an entertaining game, with Horsham YMCA again confirming that they are perfectly capable of holding off upper table sides, just as they did against Steyning in their previous outing.

YM were twice denied by the woodwork, and on another day might have snatched all three points at the death.

Delighted Manager Dean Carden told the County Times: “Senior players dropped out late because of sickness, but their replacements did us proud. That was a really solid performance, building on recent good displays and we need to keep that going now!”

From an early corner, YM rattled both the crossbar and visiting Eastbourne Town, six places higher in the league. Jack Murphy, Kai Crowhurst and James Hull all responded with shots, but without unduly troubling Aaron Jeal in the YM goal. After corners at either end, YM got the ball in the net only to be deprived by an infringement, and, just before half time, a YM piledriver narrowly evaded the top right corner of the goal.

Resuming, YM survived an early scare when Jeal had to be at full stretch to keep out an errant back pass. YM then blazed over before, somehow, Eastbourne missed an open goal, and were then far too aerial.

YM, though, were playing compact football and defending valiantly. Eastbourne hooked over ahead of a YM attacking spell earning two corners, during which sub Zac Massey shot wide.

Both teams pressed hard to for a winning goal in the closing minutes, and, in an impressive much-improved performance, YM might have succeeded when Hayden Neathey unleashed a long range rocket - the last kick of the game – but it crashed onto the crossbar, thwarting YM by the tightest of margins.

Other SCFL premier results:

AFC Varndeanians 0 Haywards Heath Town 2

CDG 3 Bexhill 2

Eastbourne Utd 1 Loxwood 0

Hassocks 4 Saltdean 0

Horsham YMCA 0 Eastbourne Town 0

Midhurst 7 AFC Uckfield 0

Peacehaven & Tels 2 Shoreham 2

Steyning 2 Newhaven 4