After having to head off early from game number one at Steyning it was off to the second at Lancing as they took on Sussex rivals Littlehampton Town at Culver Road on Bank Holiday Monday.
Both sides are experiencing differing campaigns so far, Town in their first ever at Step 4 level are hovering around the play-off positions whilst the Lancers are looking to get away from the relegation zone and the play-off’s around those.
Newly appointed manager for the home side Dean Cox saw his side come from 0-2 down to win 3-2 in his first game in charge, management lark is easy I remarked to him a day or two afterwards, but a long way to go for him and his team.
footballwriting.co.uk is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
The content below was originally paywalled.
Once again the Sussex sun was out for the lunchtime kick off in front of a healthy sized crowd hoping for a good start to the new year. A frantic and frenetic start to the game saw both sides trying to get the upper hand in midfield, Dion Jarvis for Littlehampton looking to run at the Lancers defence whilst Mo Jammeh on a dual registration from neighbours Worthing looking to do likewise.
The early exchanges didn’t create too many chances, the majority of the game played across midfield with neither side seemingly able to keep possession for long enough to trouble either keeper and unsurprisingly the sides went in level at half time.
The second half began in a similar fashion and it began to look like the game if there was to be a goal would be settled by a mistake or an absolute worldie and as it turned out the first goal came from the former.
Lewis Jenkins was caught in possession about five yards outside his penalty area, the ball ending up with full back Kyle O’Brien, a sweet finish past James Binfield to give the home side the lead.
Lancing did have a couple of half to fairly good chances to extend the lead in the following five minutes but didn’t take them leaving Town knowing they were still in the game.
Littlehampton did look the more likely if either side were going to find a goal but tempers flared just before the end which resulted in red cards for Lancers Jake Legrange and Littlehampton’s Jarvis and despite six minutes of stoppage time Cox and his Lancing team picked up back to back wins to lift the Lancers up one place to 16th, but within a point of 11th place.
Not a classic game in all honesty, and sometimes derbies rarely are especially around the festive time. The quality was lacking in the final third at both ends which was what led me to believe where the goal would come from.
Despite the defeat Town are still nicely placed with a lot of football left to be played this season and two wins on the bounce should give Lancing renewed energy as they look to pull away from the troublesome end of the table.
So, two Bank Holiday games, two home wins, two blogs written as 2023 kicks off and a heck of a lot more football to watch.
A quick chat we got with former Worthing and current Wycombe Wanderers player Jasper Pattenden who was there to watch brother Lucas starring for Littlehampton, the winger explaining how he’s had to sit out a week or two due to the complicated loan rules between the EFL and the National League, bizarre stuff considering we’re all in the same country, maybe when the football regulator finally comes into play it’s just another thing to be tidied up.
