Sidley goal blitz ends barren run

Doubles by Peter Baker and Kevin Rose plus another from Dave Carey gave The Blues a 5-1 half time lead, their first Sussex Division One points since late September and a 5-3 victory over Rye & Iden United for the second consecutive Boxing Day.

Sidley remain fourth-from-bottom, but their fourth win from seven home league games has at least drawn them onto the coat-tails of the sides immediately above them.

"Without a doubt the win was the main thing," said assistant manager Andy Laskey, who took charge of the team in the absence of flu-suffering manager Liam Barham. "It was tremendous from an attacking point of view and there was a lot more desire and commitment about the performance."

Much of that increased desire and commitment was down to Rose, who put in a couple of meaty challenges early on which set the tone for a far more assertive display than in the dreadful 3-0 reverse to Wick nine days previously.

And it was Rose who handed the home side the initiative mid-way through the first half, rising the highest to head home Baker's right wing corner.

Carey doubled Sidley's advantage four minutes later with an inch-perfect looping header from around 15 yards that fell just under the crossbar from Richard Harrison's driven centre.

But this was by no means a classic performance from the home side, particularly in view of the defensive sloppiness which infiltrated their game and rather took the gloss off a crucial victory.

Sidley allowed their neighbours a foothold in the match when a mix-up between defender Nick Whiteman and goalkeeper Peter Newstead presented Nathan Harding with an open net after 33 minutes.

Newstead atoned for that error in judgement four minutes later with a booming kick downfield that sailed over the away defence and Baker, who spent the previous two seasons at Rye & Iden, headed past the out-rushing Harry Killick.

Baker claimed his 17th goal of the season with a trademark quickly-taken free kick in the 44th minute and the forward delivered the corner from which Rose powered home another header in the fifth minute of first half added time.

Sidley perhaps unsurprisingly lost much of the impetus after the break, but Killick was still forced into great saves from Baker and Paul Henty.

The impressive Colin Johnstone pulled one back for second-bottom Rye & Iden with a 25-yard screamer in the 68th minute and the same player added their third goal in the second minute of stoppage time following an awful mistake by Newstead.