Peacehaven v Shoreham

It was a familiar pattern as the Tye had the lions share of possession but were unable to translate that into a cohesive attacking threat, and were undone by the concession of two decidedly soft goals.

It was a very strange match, with Shoreham pinned back inside their own half for long periods, as Peacehaven desperately sought to make up a two goal deficit, but rarely looked to be in any real danger. Despite their overwhelming domination of the ball Peacehaven struggled to create clear chances, and in the end the visitors collected a fairly comfortable victory, winning at Piddinghoe Avenue for the third successive season.

Peacehaven's team was unchanged from the midweek win at Lingfield, with the only surprise being an appearance on the bench from Chamal Fenelon.

Peacehaven made a disastrous start, conceding twice in the first twenty minutes. The first goal came when a corner caused confusion, allowing centre back Ollie Davis to side foot in. That was then followed by Josh Heyburn allowing a weak shot from Dean Smith to slip through his hands and into the back of the net.

Nothing could have suited Shoreham's game plan better than to have an early lead, and from that point they sat back and looked to hit on the break. With clever players like Kevin Keehan, Rob Boddy, Richard Hudson and Callaghan in their side they were always going to be good in possession, but their conservative approach saw the finish to the first half become a seige. Peacehaven gradually built up a head of steam and had two very strong penalty claims ignored as they built up the pressure.

Rob O'Toole and Bradley Murray both went close as half time approached, and it looked as though the pattern would continue after half time. The introduction of Fenelon, and the redeployment of Wes Millis in a three man defence disrupted Peacehaven's rhythm however and they were unable to regain their momentum after the break.

They still had plenty of the ball, but with a porous midfield they were increasingly vulnerable on the break, and a tendency to over commit in attack blunted their threat.

They did pull a goal back when Ryan Bradley slid in at the back post to meet Fenelon's cross, but by the end they had run out of ideas, were reduced to long range efforts which were never likely to threaten the visitors lead.