O'Toole hails Mussels' display as they maintain five-point gap at the top

Joe Keehan and Tom Burton both struck in the opening 45 minutes, while Rob O’Toole and substitute Richard Greenfield found the net in the second as Mussels romped to a comprehensive 4-0 home triumph.

Having been held at Pagham in their previous league fixture, Mussels maintained their five-point lead over Haywards Heath at the summit with all three points.

Bryan O’Toole was impressed with the professional edge his team showed in the victory and said: “I’d say it was one of the most pleasing performances of the season so far. The players showed a great professional side and we were too strong for Loxwood.

“Another side that impressed me was the patience we showed as a team.

“ I said to the players before, if we don’t score early just keep doing the right things and it will come, which is exactly what was shown.

“We missed a hatful of chances and it could easily have been more but getting the victory was most important.”

Mussels had to wait until ten minutes before the break to go ahead as Joe Keehan headed home Scott Packer’s corner.

Burton was then on hand to fire home a rebound as Shoreham opened up a two-goal cushion two minutes later.

Rob O’Toole saw an effort chalked off for offside early in the second, before finally adding a third with a header 20 minutes from time.

Burton thought he’d made it four on 75 minutes, only for the linesman’a flag to once again deny a Shoreham player.

Substitute Richard Greenfield was introduced and rounded off the scoring with a minute left.. A fine solo run was then finished off with a fantastic curled strike into bottom corner as Mussels put four past Loxwood to record an emphatic victory.

Next up for Mussels is a trip to second-placed Haywards Heath on Tuesday (7.45pm).

Should Shoreham avoid defeat they will have at least a five-point lead at the summit with half of the season gone but boss Bryan O’Toole wants to come away with all three points.

He added: “It’s a massive game and we’ll be going all out to win it. We know a win will see us eight points clear but a defeat will cut the gap down to just two points, which is a big difference.

“Everyone of my players is chomping at the bit to get going and we’ll to doing everything we can to take all three points.”

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