MUST WIN GAME

The Hillians hold a commanding lead in the Sussex League and only defending champions Sidley look remotely capable of halting their charge to the championship.

But the Blues are being hampered by a lack of match action. The bad weather has played havoc with their fixture list to such an extent that they have played only one league match in 2002. This has seen them slip to sixth place - a daunting 16 points adrift of the top dogs.

Joint manager Sully said: "Realistically if we want to catch them we need to win. They would be happy with a draw because even if we win our games in hand we would still be seven points behind.

"If we beat them it might make them worry a little bit and give us a massive lift, a draw just leaves it the same."

Sully added though, that the timing of the fixture could have been better. "It's a bad time to be playing them just from the point of view of us not having played that much," he said.

One possible boost for Sidley is Burgess Hill's superb run to the quarter-finals of the FA Vase which could divert attention away from the league.

Sully went on: "The next few games are crucial for us but myself and Pete (Heritage) are realistic that having missed almost all of January and the first few weeks of February it's going to be really tough to get any sort of rhythm going. But we will be positive."

Before the Burgess Hill game Sidley are due to take on Sidlesham at Gullivers tomorrow (Saturday). Chris Copley is rated only 50-50 after going over on his ankle while road running.

The Blues kept themselves active during another blank midweek by taking part in an aerobics class at Ninfield Village Hall and Sully said the instructor was pleasantly surprised by the players' level of fitness. "It was really good," he said.

The latest Sidley fixtures to fall foul of the weather were against Selsey last Saturday and Three Bridges on Tuesday. Both were called off due to a waterlogged pitch.