Little Common back in the County League

A delegation from the league's ground grading committee rubber stamped the club's application to rejoin the county set-up they said goodbye to following relegation 10 years ago.

The Commoners will go into Division Three - one down from neighbours Bexhill United and two below Sidley United.

Club chairman Ken Cherry, who was manager when Common suffered the agony of relegation in 1995, said: "It's great news."

A four-man team from the County League spent an hour at the Recreation Ground club on Saturday to confirm what many had expected as Common were the only club to apply who actually boasted the kudos of winning their league.

In fact, Common completed a marvellous East Sussex League treble by adding the Blacklands Finance Challenge Cup - the league's premier knockout competition - and the Premier Division Supplementary Competition to the title.

Their well-appointed ground was also highly praised, with Cherry revealing: "They said we had better facilities than some teams in the First Division."

Elevation will enable Common to provide a higher grade of football to their exciting crop of under-18 players. "We want to keep our young players and playing county football is a bigger pull than playing in the East Sussex League," Cherry went on.

Five clubs applied to join the Sussex League but only three finished in the top two of their respective leagues - a pre-requisite for promotion. Preliminary ground inspections were carried out in early spring when clubs were notified of any improvements that had to be made in order for eligibility.

Next year's Division Three will be increased to 15 teams as no teams were relegated.