Southwick win at home to ten-man Town

Wickers had recorded a 3-1 win at title favourites Haywards Heath in their opening match on Saturday and continued where they had left off with a comfortable victory over ten-man Town. Tom Donnelly struck a hat-trick and George Rudwick netted his second in two games to send Wickers top of the fledgling league table – albeit only on goal difference. Wickers boss John Kilgarriff was delighted with another victory for his side and said: “I’m really pleased with the result and also the performance as derby games are always difficult. “Steyning going down to ten men made a huge difference to the game and, if I’m being honest, 4-1 flattered us a little bit. “Richard Hudson was also maybe a bit fortunate to not get sent off as well just before and, if I’m being critical, I was also a bit disappointed at the nature of their goal. “We’ve started this season as we finished the last and, although it’s too early to start thinking about aims and goals for the season, we just want to carry on playing well and getting the best out of this squad.” Continued on page 106. It took Wickers only 13 minutes to go ahead as Donnelly latched on to Hudson’s perfectly weighted through ball and dinked the ball over Steyning keeper Mike Abbott. Town then squandered a golden chance to equalise when George McMahon and Rob Clark linked up to play in Lee Garnham, who found himself unmarked, only to fire his weak volley straight at Wickers keeper Kieran Gillard. Donnelly had a header ruled out for offside and Lewis Levoi went close with a free kick, but the match hinged on the dismissal of Matt Dodd for a lunging, two-footed tackle on Elliott Finney on the half-hour. Steyning felt aggrieved that a similar incident shortly before had seen Hudson escape with only a yellow, but, from then on, Southwick were dominant. Abbott reacted well to keep out Hudson’s snap-shot shortly before the break, but Wickers doubled their lead with a carbon copy of their opener two minutes after the resumption. This time, Lee Denyer played Donnelly through and the finish was almost identical as he clipped home over Abbott. To their credit, Steyning responded well and they pulled a goal back through skipper Kerry Parsons four minutes later when he headed home from a corner. Southwick never looked in danger of relinquishing their lead, though, and moved 3-1 ahead when Donnelly volleyed in his hat-trick on the hour, before Rudwick smashed in a fourth late on after Marcus Strevens had flashed two excellent efforts wide. Steyning manager Alan Skipper praised his side’s performance and said:“I can have no complaints about the performance as the boys gave 110 per cent against a very good side in Southwick. “I can have no complaints about our red card either but I was a bit annoyed that their player wasn’t sent off for a similar thing as its all about consistency and was, undoubtedly, the turning point in the game. “The scoreline was a bit harsh on us and I changed to 3-4-2 to try to have a go at it as we had nothing to lose but now we need to pick ourselves up and go again for another derby -a very important cup match against Storrington on Saturday.” It took Wickers only 13 minutes to go ahead as Donnelly latched on to Hudson’s perfectly-weighted through ball and dinked the ball over Steyning keeper Mike Abbott. Town then squandered a golden chance to equalise when George McMahon and Rob Clark linked up to play in Lee Garnham, who found himself unmarked, only to fire his weak volley straight at Wickers keeper Kieran Gillard. Donnelly had a header ruled out for offside and Lewis Levoi went close with a free kick, but the match hinged on the dismissal of Matt Dodd for a lunging, two-footed tackle on Elliott Finney on the half-hour. Steyning felt aggrieved that a similar incident shortly before had seen Hudson escape with only a yellow, but, from then on, Southwick were dominant. Abbott reacted well to keep out Hudson’s snap-shot shortly before the break, but Wickers doubled their lead with a carbon copy of their opener two minutes after the resumption. This time, Lee Denyer played Donnelly through and the finish was almost identical as he clipped home over Abbott. To their credit, Steyning responded well and they pulled a goal back through skipper Kerry Parsons four minutes later when he headed home from a corner. Southwick never looked in danger of relinquishing their lead, though, and moved 3-1 ahead when Donnelly volleyed in his hat-trick on the hour, before Rudwick smashed in a fourth late on after Marcus Strevens had flashed two excellent efforts wide. Steyning manager Alan Skipper praised his side’s performance and said: “I can have no complaints about the performance as the boys gave 110 per cent against a very good side in Southwick. “I can have no complaints about our red card either but I was a bit annoyed that their player wasn’t sent off for a similar thing as it’s all about consistency and was, undoubtedly, the turning point in the game. “The scoreline was a bit harsh on us and I changed to 3-4-2 to try to have a go at it as we had nothing to lose but now we need to pick ourselves up and go again for another derby – a very important cup match against Storrington on Saturday.” SOUTHWICK: Gillard; Taylor, Philpott, C.McClymont, Lipscombe; Stideford, Finney; Hudson, Rudwick, Donnelly; Denyer. Subs: McDowell (Denyer 62), Strevens (Hudson 67), Watts (Philpott 80), Tucker, W.McClymont. STEYNING: Abbott; S.Skipper, Parsons, Finch, Early; Dodd, McMahon, Elms, Garnham; Levoi, Clark. Subs: Garrett, Waller, Beales (Clark, Skipper, Early 75), Sharpe, Webb. Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live. Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on. 1) Make our website your homepage at www.shorehamherald.co.uk/ 2) Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ShorehamHerald 3) Follow us on Twitter @Shoreham_Herald 4) Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here. And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out! The Shoreham Herald - always the first with your local news. Be part of it.