29 photos as Pagham beat Shoreham – plus reports from Little Common v Horsham YMCA and Wick v Seaford

Pagham 4 Shoreham 0

SCFL premier

by Paul Davidson

Pagham scored four goals for the second week running and also kept another clean sheet to leave the Musselmen down among the muck and nettles at the very bottom of the table.

Shoreham were left relying on breakaways for most of the game. Both Dan Simmonds and Kieron Howard had early chances but blasted them both over the bar.

Jamie Carroll then had a header cleared off the line in the 20th minute as Pagham got closer to the opening goal. That duly arrived on 26 minutes when Howard’s fierce shot was parried into the path of top-scorer Simmonds who gleefully smashed the rebound home from close in. Lions keeper Conor Kelly had his only shot of the half to save ten minutes later and what a good one it was, getting down low at the near post to smother the shot.

The second half started in the same manner as the first half had and it was surprising that it took until the 64th minute for Pagham to increase their lead, when an excellent free-kick by youngster Preston Woolston was headed home by substitute Joe Briggs for his first goal for the club.

Carrol then hit the post two minutes later, but it was Kelly at the other end of the pitch who was the next Lion to shine. He pulled off a wonderful save low down from a 25-yard piledriver. Briggs then took over the limelight putting Simmonds clean through to score his second goal of the game in the 87th minute, then scoring his own second on 92 benefitting from an awful mistake by Shoreham keeper Southam to tap into the open net from close in.

Pagham: Kelly, Atkinson (Hauxwell), Micevicius, Woolston, Wollers (Kardos), Pointing, Kazlauskas (Briggs), Philips, Simmonds, Howard, Carroll (Chipp-Smith). Sub: Thorn.

Little Common 2 Horsham YMCA 1

SCFL premier

Little Common put two disappointing league performances behind them as they ground out a 2-1 victory at home to Horsham YMCA on Saturday.

The Commoners welcomed back Jamie Bunn and Josh Turner to the squad with Jack McLean missing out due to injury. After a fairly even opening it was Common who took the lead in the 15th minute when a Sam Cruttwell through ball was skied into the air by a defender and then completely missed by the visiting keeper allowing Lewis Hole the simplest of finishes.

The visitors looked for an instant response and Pul Feakins was on hand to hook an effort off the goal line following a YMCA header in the area. Two dangerous free-kicks on the edge of the area cleared the crossbar before Common enjoyed a spell in the opposition half, the YMCA keeper spilling a cross which was cleared off the line before making amends with a fine low stop from a Sam Cruttwell effort.

Common started the second half brightly, looking to extend their lead and Hole saw a header drift wide before the same player brought a smart save from the keeper. Common did double their lead in the 65th minute when another error from the keeper saw him completely misjudge a cross into the box and Cruttwell was on hand to knock home the loose ball.

Seven minutes later and visitors were back in the game when Tom Tolfrey produced a neat finish to halve the deficit. Hamish Hallud produced a good low save to prevent an equaliser and with YMCA sensing a comeback, Common saw their task of seeing out the game become more difficult when Cruttwell received his second caution of the afternoon leaving them with ten men for the final ten minutes.

The visitors almost grabbed a late point when a delivery across the box was flashed wide of the goal but Common held on to claim a much needed three points.

Wick 2 Seaford Town 4

SCFL Division 1

Two injury-time goals sent Wick to a Division One defeat at the end of an entertaining encounter with fellow high-flyers Seaford Town at Crabtree Park.

The Dragons were pushing for a winner as normal time expired when the Badgers broke down the right and swept a deep cross to the far post which was met by a diving header into the bottom far corner from substitute Josh Wright.

Then, moments later, Wright added a simple second to leave the visitors celebrating victory with Wick wondering what could have been.

The Dragons twice fought back from falling behind in an exhilarating first half with Division 1’s leading scorer Tyler Capon sticking away two clinical finishes as he ran on to precise through balls.

But on both occasions the home side swiftly fought their way back on to level terms with Dave Crouch scoring both goals to take his tally to a credible eight before the end of September.

His first goal was a superb finish from close range after meeting a first-time cross from Rhys Rawlings - one of many provided by the marauding young right-back throughout the match. - after fine approach play.

The Iceman’s second was a brave header before being clattered by the goalkeeper as he ran on to a terrific pass from Harry Williams.

Crouch had a couple of chances to put the Dragons ahead in the second half, running onto clever through balls as Wick looked the better, more cohesive side, but both efforts from outside the area drifted agonisingly wide.

The Dragons could have been the ones taking maximum points on another day and a draw would have been a fair result, but it ended up being a frustrating finish after a decent display.