In normal circumstances visiting such a beautiful hamlet like this rural Berkshire setting late season in the sunshine would be a pleasant experience – but with both clubs in trouble the mood was tense. And for the Golds, a lazy start allowed the hosts to win it 1-0. The annoying aspect for managers Mitch Hand and George Gaskin would be that Binfield didn’t have to do a lot to get their noses in front. On five minutes they were allowed to execute a short corner routine, Golds seemly unwilling to track the spare man. Just five minutes later the same thing – a neat uncontested cross was fired in for the centre back to nod home. To the surprise of everyone in the ground a linesman’s flag went up. That should have been the wake-up call needed. Instead, Littlehampton continued to make basic errors of misplaced passes and not tracking back. On 26 minutes a loose pass in the middle allowed Amari Fashanu to saunter through, skip past Billy Collins in goal and tap home what proved the only goal. The hosts would have felt that they perhaps should have scored more in that dominant first half. The Golds came alive early in the second half and gave it a real go. They played some good one-touch football down the right to force a couple of corners. However, Binfield rode out the storm to take the sting out of the game. Neither team really tested the opposition keeper until late on. Hand rung the changes which set up a grandstand finish. Ryan Thomas wriggled free on the right and his fierce shot hit the bar. Then with the last corner a mad goalmouth scramble saw a Binfield foot hack the ball to safety. Moments later Binfield were celebrating digging themselves out of the relegation zone with a deserved 1-0 win. After a five-minute team huddle, the Golds filed back to the dressing room in silence. The two young managers, in quiet contemplation, sat in the away dugout for 15 minutes. Hand did come and speak to us. Clearly upset he said: “We started poorly and are not playing the situation. It should look like we are fighting for our lives, but we played like a team who feels the season is finished. "We are right in the middle of a dogfight, and we need to find something fast. We play at home on Tuesday night (Raynes Park) and it is our game in hand againat a couple of the other sides.” Littlehampton’s Isthmian survival is certainly well within reach with a handful of matches to play. It’s surprising that Met Police have fallen into the mire and are dropping like a stone. There are plenty of chances for Golds to pick up valuable wins as we head into Easter. Golds can’t afford another poor 45 minutes this season. Colin Bowman is following Sussex non-league sides – from step two to four – all season. Read more of his pieces by searching Colin Bowman and Sussex Express.
