Moment of madness sours good win

SIDLEY United boosted their hopes of avoiding relegation from the Sussex top flight with a priceless and well deserved 2-0 win over Eastbourne Town at a rain-lashed Gullivers.

But much of the gloss was taken off this result by a moment of madness by Keith Miles, who was shown a straight red card for an ugly lunge on Lee Walsh.

Play was held up for 10 minutes while a stricken Walsh received treatment before being stretchered off.

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He suffered damaged knee ligaments which will almost certainly sideline him for the rest of the season.

The challenge defied belief because it came just five minutes after Sidley had opened up a two-goal lead and were coasting to victory against rivals who are also on the fringe of the Division One drop zone.

The two players have history because Miles was also sent off for throwing the ball at the back of Walsh the last time the teams met in November. This would appear to mere coincidence rather than any premeditated act because Sidley manager Andy Laskey revealed Walsh actually wrote a letter in defence of Miles when the case was heard by the Sussex FA.

The experienced Sidley striker is due to start a 56-day suspension for that offence and subsequent comments made to the referee at the time and after this latest incident it's hard to see when he will return.

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Laskey was at a loss to explain Miles' actions. "It was a bad tackle," he said. "The strange thing was it came out of nothing. It wasn't a reaction to anything, it wasn't that kind of game. It was just something that occurred on the spur of the moment. Only he knows why he did it."

Miles phoned Laskey that night to apologise and also contacted Town manager Ady Colwell to express his regret.

The fixture, hastily rearranged after being postponed the previous midweek, was settled by two goals in as many minutes just before the hour mark.

The opening goal actually stemmed from a clearance by Sidley goalkeeper Greg Thurstans who dashed out of his area to clear the danger. The Town defence was caught on its heels and Miles darted clear to fire in a low shot which brought out a decent save from Russell Tanner. He couldn't gather though and substitute Stuart Weston followed up to tap into an empty net.

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Town were stung for a second time just moments later when Jason Finch's hanging free kick totally deceived Turner who was obviously put off by the darting run of Kevin Rose.

Town could consider themselves unfortunate not to get on the scoresheet but were denied by a goalline clearance in each half. The first saw Graham Morris somehow volley Ben Billings' inswinging corner out from under the Sidley crossbar and the second found Finch in the right place to deny Ben Putland.

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