Rye prevail in eight-goal thriller

The drama began in the very first minute when an Anthony Storey corner went in off the Lancing goalkeeper’s legs. Sam Adams squared for Sam Crabb to double Rye’s lead in the 24th minute.

Lancing deservedly pulled one back six minutes later through Richard Hudson’s well-taken free kick over the wall, but Rye went 3-1 up in the 60th minute when Adams played in Storey to finish coolly.

Lancing got back into it 15 minutes later as Darren Boswell’s low cross was turned into his own net by Sean Kelly and Boswell made it 3-3 in the 86th minute with a low drive into the far corner.

Matt Maclean put Rye back in front four minutes later with a delightful finish. Lancing had Grant Philpot sent-off for two yellow cards and the excellent Adams wrapped up the scoring in the dying seconds.

Elsewhere in Sussex County Football League Division One, a heavily depleted Sidley United side picked up a creditable 1-1 draw away to Selsey but felt that their very good performance merited all three points.

Selsey drew first blood in the opening 10 minutes of the second half only for Kevin Rose, who formed an unlikely but impressive strike partnership with Zack McEniry, to level from the penalty spot soon afterwards.

Full reports on both matches will appear in Friday’s Observers.

Standings (played-points): 1 East Preston 16-39, 2 Peacehaven & Telscombe 16-37, 3 RYE UNITED 17-36, 4 Ringmer 15-31, 5 Redhill 14-29, 6 Lancing 16-28, 7 Hassocks 16-28, 8 Lingfield 15-26, 9 Horsham YMCA 16-25, 10 Pagham 14-25, 11 East Grinstead Town 16-23, 12 Arundel 15-20, 13 Crowborough Athletic 16-19, 14 St Francis Rangers 15-18, 15 SIDLEY UNITED 15-18, 16 Dorking Wanderers 14-16, 17 Shoreham 15-16, 18 Selsey 16-16, 19 Hailsham Town 13-15, 20 AFC Uckfield 16-9, 21 Chichester City 18-9, 22 Worthing United 16-3.