West Sussex League: Students are taught a painful lesson

Premier division

The University’s title hopes took another sizeable dent as they went down to fellow promotion hopefuls Cowfold.

Cowfold took the initiative when a well-judged lofted pass found the right winger in the box and he was able to fire his shot past the despairing dive of Matt Evans in the Uni goal.

Scoring opportunities were at a premium and it remained 1-0 at half-time.

An early second-half foul in the box provided Cowfold with the platform to extend their lead, but the spot-kick was saved by man of the match Evans.

Unfortunately Evans was beaten by a bullet header from the subsequent corner, which gave Cowfold the cushion they needed to hold on - despite last-ditch efforts by Dec Hartigan and Tom Chaplin which were saved.

UNIVERSITY: Evans, C Baker, Hibbert, Lee (Fraser), Dye, Smith, Hartigan, Potter (Chaplin), Hagan , D Baker, Sandford.

Yapton 1 Lavant 3

Division one

Lavant remained top of division one with a win at Eastergate Memorial Ground.

But Yapton dominated the first half with captain Karl Westbrook leading a strong defence, Lee Boxall directing play and Dan Bedford always a danger up front.

They outmuscled the visitors and panicked them into numerous mistakes. Despite Lavant hitting a post, the home side deserved the half-time lead secured when Ludlow headed home a Yapton corner on 14 minutes.

The interval gave Lavant’s management the chance to take the frenetic pace out of the game. To their credit, the leaders implemented their instructions and controlled the second half.

A calm build-up fed Ryan Seacombe, who flicked the ball on for Stuart Loversidge to beat his defender and thrash the ball into the top corner on 52 minutes.

Seacombe was then fed by James Brooks to give Lavant the second six minutes later. Brooks ended another move by lobbing the ball into the open Yapton net from 30 yards with five minutes of normal time to play.

On Saturday Lavant entertain fellow title challengers Faygate – the only team to take points from Lavant this season.

LAVANT: Sanson; Coe, Lyttle, Wright, Hine; Weller, Knight, Brooks, Bartley; Seacombe, Loversidge. Subs: Grace, Neville, Stevens.

Selsey A 1 Wittering Utd 6

Chichester Charity Cup

In-form Wittering are in the quarter-finals of the Chichester Charity Cup after this comfortable win.

It didn’t take long for the first Wittering goal to go in – a long throw from Peter Cairns was glanced on by Darran Cox for Barry McCoy to volley in from eight yards.

Selsey responded immediately. A poor header from player-manager Gary Jefkins was volleyed first time from 25 yards and it trickled in off the post.

McCoy put Wittering back ahead, converting a cut-back from Cox from six yards.

On 54 minutes neat interplay released Cox in the box and he was brought down. Captain McCoy stepped up to complete his hat-trick.

Sub Hugh Howden made an instant impact, making it 4-1 after McCoy released Darran Cox to set him up.

Wittering were awarded another penalty after McCoy was pushed in the back. McCoy stepped up to score his fourth.

Darran Cox completed the rout on 88 minutes firing in from close range. Man of the match was Alan Sheppard.

WITTERING: Rochester, Haskell, Cairns, G Jefkins, O’Brennan, Kewell, Kelly, Sheppard, J Jefkins, Cox, McCoy. Subs: Green, Kennard, Howden.

Wittering United earned a 1-0 victory when they made their longest trip of the season, a 30-mile journey to Worthing Town in the third round of the Sussex Junior Cup without seven players. With just a few minutes left, Simon Oakes sent Barry McCoy clear and when his shot was parried, Alan Sheppard was on hand to finally break Worthing’s resistance.