Souter suits Selsey as safety looms

Ian Martin’s men need only one more point to be mathematically safe, and are in the bottom half only on goal difference.

The manager says attentions are now shifting to the remaining few games of the season and finishing as high up the table as possible, and will not use the landmark as a reward for the players in their next game.

He said: “That might bring in a little bit of complacency and work against us for the rest of the season. There are other targets the chairman and I have set that we’re working towards now.

“It’s almost mission accomplished in terms of staying out of the bottom three but we’ve set our sights on a new set of goals.

“We had to respond to last week (a 6-1 loss) and thankfully we did enough to make us feel a little bit better about ourselves.”

Stuart Souter’s first goal came on 20 minutes but Danny Oakins levelled inside the first half.

The turning point came when dissent from Lingfield’s Michael Akande led to his dismissal, and two minutes into the second half Souter doubled the visitors’ lead.

Graham Bush grabbed his 11th goal of the season to make sure Oakins’ second was no more than a consolation – and put his name among the league’s top scorers in the process.

“Graham does so much work for the team – it’s a bit of a cliché that your forwards are the first line of defence but he really does help out the midfield and defence. Stu seems to have moved on from last year and got vital goals in vital games too,” Martin said.

Selsey visit the Colwell Ground this Saturday to play 19th-placed St Francis Rangers, who have won their last two.

MARK ALLAWAY