Peacehaven v Uckfield

There were three changes to the Peacehaven line-up which had lost to Shoreham on Boxing Day, with Jake Buss and Harry Coker returning to the side, and left winger Jordan Lang making his first appearance since signing from Eastbourne Town.

As they did against Lancing a fortnight ago, Peacehaven got off to the perfect start, scoring with their first attack. Rob O'Toole controlled the ball just outside the area, and his fierce shot rifled past the motionless Shayne Goldsmith in the away goal. You felt that this, at last, would be Peacehaven's afternoon, but there was a warning shot to come from AFC within two minutes.

With their first attack, Jack Divall's low, hard cross found Andy McDowell in the 6 yard box, and Jake Buss produced a superb reflex save from point blank range to keep Haven in front.
Peacehaven were unlucky not to extend their lead after 15 minutes when Craig Hall's looping forward ball seemed to fool Goldsmith before dropping on to the bar and away to safety, and then the wood-work was to come to Peacehaven's rescue as Divall's rocketing shot crashed against Buss's post.

As the half was wore on, so Uckfield where starting to win more possession, and on the half hour the scores where level when Craig Manton touched in a low cross at the near post. No one could argue that the score was a good reflection of the first half, but within minutes of the restart Uckfield took the lead in bemusing fashion when James Rhodes' seemingly harmless shot from outside the box was deemed to be "safe" but bounced in off the inside of the post to leave Peacehaven facing a familiar situation.

Uckfield were happy to contain the midfield for the next 30 minutes, with chances few and far between for either side until Peacehaven were seemingly thrown a life-line with 15 minutes remaining when Andy McDowell collected a send yellow, and Uckfield were down to 10 men.

For AFC, it was now all about survival, whilst Peacehaven poured forward looing for the equaliser. There was a flurry of chances for them with Ryan Bradley producing a shot which skimmed the bar, and Goldsmith making a top-class save from Rob O'Toole.

You could sense a goal was imminent, and so it was - but not at the end the home fans wanted to see. With minutes remaining, Peacehaven where caught on the break, and substitute Tom Swancott broke free before driving into the bottom corner to put the result beyond doubt.

With the still injured Adam Kneller, Tom Levitt, Craig Bunch and Ashley Rees all watching from the stand, it was a frustrating end to a frustrating year, but Manager Shaun Saunders was still in a positive frame of mind after the game saying, "We're still in a great position to move forward and we have a strong group of players with a good attitude. We've been really unlucky with injuries, but we have to stay focused and look at this as a long-term project. I'm really looking forward to 2012, it's going to be an exciting year for the Club"