Ten-man Golds progress past Selsey in FA Vase

Some inspirational substitutions seemed to inspire Golds as they scored two second-half goals to claim the victory – after they had been reduced to ten men.

The first half was uneventful, with both sides failing to create many chances and Littlehampton played well below par.

The returning George Gaskin had Littlehampton’s only real chance of the first half in the 17th minute. He broke clear of Selsey’s defence, following a crunching tackle from Gary Peters, but he missed the target.

Ten minutes later, the hosts had their first chance of the match when Matt Wood set Ryan Morey free, but the latter failed to test Jon Hendrick in the visitors goal.

After some handbags in the opening stages of the second half, the hosts had a great chance to take the lead, but Jack Williamson saw his shot saved by Hendrick, after Rob Wimble’s shot was deflected into his path.

The Golds were reduced to ten men in the 64th minute when Scott Packer received his second yellow card of the game but that seemed to spur on Littlehampton.

Five minutes later, Littlehampton took the lead when substitute Ben Gray fired home with his first touch after he was set free by Gaskin.

With ten minutes remaining, Liam Humphreys doubled Littlehampton’s lead when he finished calmly from substitute Mark Burgess’ through ball for his first goal for the club.

Six minutes later, Gray had a chance to put the result beyond any doubt, but he failed to finish from Mitchell Hand’s clever pass.

In the dying moments, Ross Woolf had a chance to give the hosts a glimmer of hope but he skied his effort.

Littlehampton manager Mark Bennett said: “We were rubbish until we went down to ten men. Then we played at a quicker pace, moved the ball quicker and could have scored a couple more.”