White signing cheers Sidley

The ex-Gillingham boy, still only 21, was only signed on Friday night but displayed some competent touches as a makeshift striker in the goalless draw with Pagham.

The highlight of his afternoon came on the stroke of half time when he controlled the ball adeptly on his chest and freed fellow frontman Karl Tarrant whose first time strike was blocked by the generous frame of goalkeeper Wesley Hallett.

White was replaced by Wes Tate with 10 minutes to go but he will have better days than this in a United shirt once he beds down.

The Blues looked fairly sharp early on, dominating midfield and stroking the ball around confidently as third-bottom Pagham merely seemed content to clear their lines, lumping the ball forward out of hope rather than expectation.

Dave Ward and Owen Ball both drove over the top from around the edge of the box but Sidley lacked a bit of spark going forward and the longer the game wore on in this vein the more frustrated they became and Pagham almost snatched an improbable victory.

Pagham came out in the second half actually believing they could get something from the game and pushed Sidley back for much of the half.

They looked more menacing than Sidley in attack and would have taken the lead had Chris Copley not hacked Martin Hope's drive off the line.

An afternoon of tedium belatedly sprung to life in the final five minutes and either side could have gone away with all three points.

Rob Wiley was quickly off his line to deny substitute Neil Barrett after a routine long clearance was allowed to bounce. From the resulting corner James Heller's header appeared to strike the arm of Craig Ottley but no penalty was awarded.

Ottley himself was thwarted by a last ditch challenge as he seemed certain to score but a draw was about right between two teams who showed why they're in the bottom five of the Sussex Division One table.

Joint manager Andy Laskey said: "I thought first half we played well but we were still letting ourselves down in the final third. The most frustrating thing was we didn't pepper their goalie and we could have done without half time. I think if we'd scored in the first half we would have got two or three but the second half was disappointing from our point of view."

Sidley welcome Sidlesham to Gullivers on Saturday March 13, kick-off 2.30pm.