Local football: Pirates and Chapel prevail ... students beaten

Nyetimber Pirates 2 East Dean 1

Division one

Pirates got back to winning ways with a hard-fought victory over local rivals East Dean at Pirate Park.

East Dean arrived unbeaten in division one this season, with the Pirates having won only two of their five league games.

Manager Charlie Welling brought in James Fallick and Lewis Wilkins while captain Phil Turner returned to the side after a four-week absence.

The first half was scrappy and neither side created many clear-cut chances.

Wilkins and Turner did have chances to open the scoring midway through the first half but their efforts missed the target.

The deadlock was broken just before the break when an East Dean Defender turned a long-range Pirates effort into his own net.

It was 2-0 on 60 minutes when Andy Cox pounced on the rebound of Fallick’s effort.

As East Dean tried to get back into the game they pushed ex-Pirate Matt Hope into a more advanced role and he scored almost instantly to set up a nervy last 17 minutes for the Looters.

Turner was unlucky not to finish it off as his powerful effort crashed off the underside of the bar.

Hope could have equalised for East Dean on 86 minutes after he danced through the defence but his effort was superbly blocked by Pye.

The win gives the Pirates confidence going into this week’s Intermediate Cup tie with Premier Division Lavant.

PIRATES: Pye, Williamson, Bann, Palmer, Carter, Cox, Wilkins, Pasterfield, Dant, Fallick, Turner. Subs: Frangou, Gill, Stannard.

Tangmere 0 Chapel 6

Division four south

Tangmere started with the strong wind behind them and held their own for 30 minutes, but after Ben Plant opened the scoring with his first of the season Chapel got on top.

Tony Scutt added a second from the spot five minutes later and Plant, having found his scoring touch, added three more goals in 15 minutes after the break.

Tangmere defended well after that and hung on until Dan Scutt got number six with a well-struck shot from outside the box in the dying seconds.

University of Chichester 0 Hartpury College 2

The University of Chichester men’s football first team were second best all over the pitch to a very well-organised and physically-strong Hartpury team.

Hartpury are one of the best university football teams in the country, having won the premier south division for seven years in a row, and put Chichester under pressure from early set-pieces.

Dan Miller was one of the few stand-out performers for Chichester, winning everything in the air and being a rock at the back.

Hartpury’s persistence paid off with a goal on 30 minutes through a strike from the edge of the area. James Binfield could do little about it.

Chichester started to create chances through George Landais and Jack Odam. They won a penalty just before half-time when captain Tom Bold was pulled back in the area from a set-piece. But Landais hit the bar from the spot.

Chichester started the second half brightly, though failing to create clear-cut opportunities. Hartpury started to take control again and on 75 minutes Hartpury broke down the left and beat Binfield from a tight angle.

Chichester failed to get the ball forward after the goal.

Chi manager Danny Potter said: “We’ve been beaten by a better team. Hartpury’s game management was excellent – they controlled the game and made it very hard for us to create any chances.

“We were not at our best and got punished. The lads are bitterly disappointed – though we will bounce back’.

Chichester host the University of South Wales on November 12 on the top pitch on the Bishop Otter Campus (2pm).