Sidley fightback gathers pace

A FEW weeks ago many might have pencilled in a visit from East Preston as a crunch Sussex Division One relegation battle for Sidley United.

But such has been their upturn in form, particularly at home, over the past couple of months that the contest took on the complexion of a good opportunity to push closer to the top half.

And this United did by dint of a decent performance which yielded a fully-merited third consecutive victory at a wet and windy Gullivers on Saturday.

"I thought we deserved it," said joint manager Andy Laskey, "and I thought we put on a good performance, especially considering the conditions. That's proved we can bounce back from a poor result (they were hammered 7-0 at Crowborough Athletic four days previously) and it's pushed us a little bit closer to the top half of the table."

That deficit to 10th-place is now just three points after a run of 22 points from a possible 27 on their own patch.

The foundations for the latest three points were laid during the opening half-an-hour which they ended two goals to the good.

It could have been very different, however, had goalkeeper Peter Newstead not pulled off a wonderful save to keep out a Josh Biggs penalty in the first minute. Biggs had beaten Newstead from the spot on the opening day of the season, but Newstead remembered which way he went and dived to his left to repel a well-placed strike.

Sidley soon got on top and Simon Corke - the game's best player during the opening quarter - put them in front after 18 minutes by rounding off a fine move involving Jimmy Watson and Peter Baker.

United were two-up 10 minutes later when Dave Carey pressured Chris Yelling into slicing the ball past his own goalkeeper, although EP felt Carey pushed Dave Hall immediately beforehand.

The visitors were gifted a foothold in the match within 30 seconds of the second half when Newstead allowed Paul Brown's corner to slither through his fingers and dribble across the goal-line.

But Sidley's 11th home league win and their status as the leading scorers at home in the division was secured when Carey latched on to Corke's pass before beating visiting goalkeeper Simon Davey seven minutes from time.

Sidley: Newstead, G. Morris, L. Wood, Steward (Henty), J. Wood, Willard, Watson, Corke, Baker, Carey, Ward (Miller). Sub not used: Lusted.

K THE seconds of Sidley United got back to winning ways and moved up two places in Sussex Reserve Section East on Saturday.

The Blues, who had lost three of their previous four matches having gone unbeaten in five outings prior to that, went fifth-bottom after winning 3-1 at basement boys Lancing.

United were 2-0 at half time through Lewis Hole and Carl Morris. Lancing pulled one back as the conditions worsened after half time, but Hole's second made sure of only their second away league win.

Sidley host the team immediately above them - Whitehawk - tomorrow (Saturday), kick-off 4.30pm, before taking on East Sussex League title hopefuls Hollington United in the final of the Hastings & District FA Intermediate Cup at Rye & Iden United FC on Tuesday night, kick-off 7.30pm.