Sluggish Sidley slip up at Sidlesham

Having won three of their previous four games, a trip to Sussex Division One's basement side should have provided the perfect opportunity for Blues to give themselves breathing space above the bottom three.

Instead they delivered a performance worthy only of the bottom three. Whilst there were occasional neat interchanges, too often possession was tossed away and attacks regularly lacked width and support for lone striker Keith Miles.

From a defensive standpoint, both goals were down to mistakes and Lewis Parsons was frequently out-numbered at right-back in the first half as a direct result of Jordan Wood's reluctance to track back.

"It was there for the taking," said joint manager Andy Laskey. "We should have been three goals up in the first half and some of the chances which we missed I would have bet my life on them scoring. But our passing throughout the game was poor."

Sidlesham, who possessed some accomplished players in key areas without looking particularly impressive collectively, had just as many openings and the only reason the scoresheet remained blank at half time was because their shooting was equally poor.

After the break, Sidlesham, and specifically Sid Sanderson, converted their opportunities. A low left wing corner after 47 minutes wasn't cleared at the near post and for the first goal; the second came after Graham Morris barely made contact with an attempted clearance on the hour.

The introduction of Kevin Rose and Lewis Hole breathed fresh life into Sidley and they looked far more menacing thereafter. Rose halved the arrears with a well-executed 86th minute volley and was whiskers away from earning a point Sidley didn't really deserve with a near post flick a minute later.

Sidley: Thurstans, Parsons, Finch (Hole), Ball, G. Morris, White, Watson, S. Morris (Rose), J. Wood (Boyd), Miles, Harrison. Sub not used: Lusted.

p Sidley second team were ousted from Reserve Section Challenge Cup second round exit by Selsey 4-3 despite a double blast by new signing from Hastings United Ian Oliver and a Peter Heritage penalty.

United make the short journey to Hailsham Town for the resumption of their league campaign tomorrow (Saturday).