Littlehampton Town hurt by Hawks - Wick go top

A solitary goal from a superb free kick taken by Charlie Harris after 12 minutes was the difference between the two sides as Town found out they won’t have things all their own way this season.

With various players unavailable and new signings still bedding into last season’s successful team, Town looked a little off the pace as the hosts packed with experience found ways to stifle the home side whilst looking the more dangerous going forward.

Worthing win at Welling - Golds off and running.

Scott Faber came close to levelling the score two minutes after Harris’ opener but a stunning top corner save from Hawks keeper Luke Glover kept the visitors in front.

Hawks were finding most joy down their right hand side, both Shay Wiggins and Marshall Ball finding themselves exposed more often than not but the final ball into the box were lacking a finish to really test James Binfield.

The game threatened to boil over at times, testing the referee’s patience as the man in the middle dished out four yellow cards in the first half.

George Gaskin had a glorious chance to level the scores just after the half hour but his effort ended up tamely in the hands of Glover.

Whitehawk almost doubled their lead five minutes later from a corner but found Scott Packer in the right place to clear off the line and keep his side in the game at the interval.

Town huffed and puffed across the second half but the final killer ball couldn’t be found and the home side struggled to break through a resolute Hawks side.

The Golds sacrificed both full-backs in an attempt to force the game but the visitors held out and were able to control the game and ensure they took the three points back to the Enclosed Ground in front of a crowd of 539 to give them maximum points so far.

Littlehampton will feel a missed opportunity to add to the weekend win over Faversham but with games coming thick and fast over the next six weeks there is much to learn about a new level of football.

Golds have a break from league action once again this Saturday as they travel to Walton & Hersham in the FA Cup preliminary round.

See www.footballwriting.co.uk for more from Trevor Knell.

On Saturday Littlehampton pulled off a stunning win on the road as they beat Faversham Town 3-2 in the south east division.

The Golds fell behind after 18 minutes but made a swift response as Jordan Layton equalised in the 22nd minute. Aaron Capon scored on the stroke of half-time to send Littlehampton in 2-1 ahead at the break.

Marshall Ball gave the travelling side a two-goal cushion as he made it 3-1 in the 61st minute.

Faversham pulled a goal back in the 87th minute, but Littlehampton held on to secure a magnificent three points.

Wick go top

Cool finisher Dave Crouch lived up to his Iceman nickname to clinch Wick’s 2-0 victory against Worthing United and maintain their perfect start to the new SCFL division one season.

Crouch scored his fourth goal of the new term to complete a superb counter-attack at Crabtree Park. The Dragons broke up a Mavericks attack in their own area and Ryan Barrett released James Thurgar who raced to the halfway line before threading a superb through ball into Crouch’s stride.

The former Pagham forward saw the keeper was off his line and clipped a glorious finish over his head.

The sweet finish built on Barrett’s first-half header from six yards in front of a bumper Friday night attendance of 108.

“It was terrific performance because we dominated the match after taking the lead and didn’t let them into the game,” said Dragons manager Lee Baldwin. “Such was our dominance, I don’t remember goalkeeper Keelan Belcher making a meaningful save.”

On Tuesday night Alex Kew and Josh Irish left the bench to send Wick top of the table with a 2-1 win at Montpelier Villa.

The Dragons, who conceded their first league goal of the season just before half-time, felt they should have had a penalty in the 31st minute when Johan van Driel was brought down.

They were also aggrieved when the ref blew for a foul in their favour just as Irish netted. But Kew equalised with a smart finish in the 81st minute and Irish clipped in the winner two minutes later to make it nine points from three. The hosts had two players sent off late on.

East Preston

East Preston bagged a terrific three points at Oakwood thanks to a second-half winner from MoM Matt Wilson. It took just eight minutes for East Preston to take the lead thanks to a free kick from James Mansfield, but Oakwood levelled seven minutes later.

In hot conditions East Preston took the initiative as Wilson put them back in front with 25 minutes left on the clock. The game finished 2-1 – a first EP win of the season. Wilson scored, assisted, was sin-binned and was MoM.