This time of year is all about making the most of midweek football, although the nights are drawing in and the temperatures are considerably lower. However, in around six weeks’ time barring those still left in cup competitions and re-arranged league games it’ll be Saturdays only so time to get out there and enjoy it.
Tuesday night was a chance to catch up with some friends at Littlehampton Town as they hosted Chichester in a local derby, the visitors now seemingly comfortable at this level while it’s still a lot of the unknown for the home side.
Both sides I had seen already in earlier league action against Whitehawk and Corinthian, neither side gaining any points from those games, the Golds with a reasonably good start so far for their first season at Isthmian League level.
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Still missing quite a few from their starting line up the hosts still didn’t look too weak, bolstered by some who have played this level before and higher, and with the floodlights beaming down, they made the brighter start.
And from one of the best moves in the game, the Golds were in front, a set of one touch balls down the right hand side saw last season’s top scorer Joe Benn put clean though and he lobbed Chi keeper Kieran Magee for the game’s opening goal.
In games last year Littlehampton went on to dominate but with every 90 minutes they play here it’s a learning curve with each game where sides are more tactically aware, space is closed down quicker and the first touch has to be spot on.
The home side should have doubled their lead two minutes later, the hard working Dion Jarvis saw his effort saved by Magee. Chi did get into the game and began to create a few chances of their own but none troubled the home keeper James Binfield.
Jarvis did have the ball in the net just after the half hour mark but was rightly flagged offside as the winger caused some constant problems for the Chi defence with his direct running.
The home side shaded the first half proceedings and deservedly went in 1-0 up, the visitors struggling to create much despite some joy down their left hand side.
The visitors were quickest out the blocks in the second half and it was no surprise when they equalised just seven minutes in, Ethan Pritchard put clean through and slotted home comfortably past Binfield.
Town struggled to retain any kind of possession as City turned the screw looking to double their lead, the ball coming straight back towards the Golds backline as soon as they cleared it.
Despite making a couple of changes with Benn and Alfie Peacock coming off for Josh Short and Aaron Capon the home side found it hard to make inroads into Chi’s defence, although Jarvis had a couple of strong runs towards the visitors penalty area he couldn’t pick out a striker in the box.
Neither side could find a winner in the final ten minutes and on the balance of play a draw was a fair result in front of a good sized crowd of 487. Every game brings something new for Littlehampton to reflect on, but they can be happy with the start so far of eight points from the first six games whilst Chi looked much more compact and lively than the side I watched a few weeks ago against Corinthian.
Still a very long way to go this season, but I would expect these two Sussex sides to be fairly comfortable in mid-table despite the home side probably admitting their aim this year is to be in this division next season.
Great to be in the company of former Worthing FC chairman Pete Stone for the full 90 minutes, a great supporter of my writing and also a knowledgeable friend to have, as always good to catch up with Max ‘Marigoals’ Mitchell, John Clarke and Stuart Bellis, long-time Littlehampton supporters who I’ve gotten to know over the past 18 months or so.
