Pagham put in 'another pleasing performance' as they progress in the Sussex Senior Cup

The Lions were roaring at Nyetimber Lane on Tuesday evening and except for a sterling performance in the visitor’s goal by Charlie Dartnell would have won by a country mile.

Right from the kick-off Pagham tore into their first division opponents and Dartnell had to be on form to save from Jamie Carroll and David Crouch, twice, in the first 7 minutes. On 15 mins he could do nothing about a towering Joe Clarke header from a deep Jared Rance corner and it was 1-0 to Pagham.

10 minutes later it was 2-0 when Joe Bennett tapped in at the far post after a mazey run by Rance, whose shot was pushed into Bennetts path by Dartnell. Debutant central defender Ben Clark-Eden almost added a third 3 minutes before half-time but his header was just over.

Mile Oak looked much livelier at the start of the second half, but once again it was the Lions that made the first chance, George Bingham blasting over from a Rance pass. If Dartnell had been good so far, he excelled himself with a superb triple save a quarter of an hour in, saving well from Jack Barnes, Crouch and Bennett in quick succession. Conor Kelly was briefly in action at the other end, saving low down and all of a sudden, the game turned into an end to end contest. The Oaks were finally felled by a lovely goal on 65 mins by Rance, lobbing the stranded keeper following a great ball over the defence by Crouch. Carroll, Bennett, Barnes and Rance were all denied by Dartnell before Jake Heryet made it 4-0 on the stroke of full time, his hard cross-cum-shot from out on the left took a wicked deflection and landed in the corner of the net.

Hardwell said: "It was another pleasing performance from the boys last night.

"The attitude the boys gave to the game was exactly what we asked from them throughout.

"We controlled the game and was great to score 4 goals and keep another clean sheet.

"It was great to see new signing Ben Clarke Eden put in a top performance and great to see Nathan da Costa play his first game of the season for the club.

"Back-to-back wins in the space of four days gives us great momentum going into Saturday’s tough game against Cowes in the FA Vase. Good luck to Mile Oak for the rest of the season.

"They are a team who looked to play throughout the game and massive props to there young goalkeeper who was excellent for them last night."

Pagham Team: Conor Kelly, Nathan da Costa, Jack Barnes, Ben Clark-Eden, Tom Atkinson, Joe Clarke (Ollie Hambleton), Jared Rance, Jamie Carroll, David Crouch (Ash Hawkes), George Bingham & Joe Bennett (Jake Heryet). Subs not used: Ryan Hallett & Grant Radmore.