Last Saturday they beat struggling Worthing United 4-1 at home and followed this up with a 1-0 home win over much improved Littlehampton FC yesterday.

The Worthing match saw the Barrowmen moved to an ultimately comfortable and deserved win, however a Worthing United strike mid way through the first half had given them a lead well against the run of play. In fact up until this point Steyning had been thwarted by a combination of poor finish and downright bad luck. They had struck the cross bar 3 times and had 2 goaline clearances, as well as spurning a number of other chances before the visitors opened the scoring. Half time came and Town were still one down. However once Radmore had turned and smashed home in off the crossbar early in the second half the score was never really in doubt. Bacon was sent clear by a Radmore flick on and cooly slotted home cutting in from the right, and Maher lashed in a third before Bacon stole the headlines with an outrageous lob from 45 yards to complete the scoring. A good 3 points for town but such wastefulness in front of goal meant for an hour the game was still in the balance. A superb crowd of 250+ went home happy.

On the 29th Town hosted Littlehampton FC in what proved to be a feisty game marred in some controversy. Littlehampton lost Langford to a red card in the first half for a headbutt after a 22 man brawl sparked by a poor challenge from Maher. The hosts also lost the petulant Thurgar to a red early in the second half after running 40 yards to launch a verbal assault on the referee after waving away penalty claims. It did look like there had been an accidental handball in the box by a town defender. Town themselves were reduced to ten men late in the game as Haulkham followed through on a tackle with his forearm for an unnecessary dismissal, sparking another mass brawl.

The first 30 minutes had shown no signs of what was to come. Town had played some excellent football and had created numerous chances which came and went. Littlehampton had also been denied an opener by a superb last ditch block by Clark on 13 minutes. On 7 minutes Gritt won the ball on the touched line and squared for Radmore to tap home only for Gritt to harshly be judged to have committed a foul in winning the ball. On 16 minute Bacon had a low drive well saved and on 17 mins Radmore fired in to the side netting after a cross by Maher. Soon after a Timms drive was cleared off the line and Gritt missed a great chance with a free header at the back post. On 32 minutes Radmore had a stinging drive parried by the keeper, before the deadlock was finally broken on 33 minutes as Bacon pounced to stab home after the ball was fired back in to the box following a corner.

Soon after the goal the first dismissal of Langford occurred which meant temperatures were still running high as he continued to protest his innocence as half time came. Early in the second half after Thurgar too saw red, the game took on a rather bizarre feel. Town were always in control with the numerical advantage, but Littlehampton were superbly organised and worked hard as they limited Town to only a handful of clear opportunities. The best of these fell to Bacon who fired wide when through one on one. In fact town had been much more impactful and creative when it had been 11 v 11.

The half was marred by a lot of petty fouls, arguments with the referee and badly frayed tempers, meaning for the crowd there was very little to get excited about and the game, and the behaviour of the players became a bit of a bore. The late dismissal of Haulkham ended a rotten afternoon on another low note. The fact that Thurgar, already sent off, had such a lack of self control that he felt the need to jump the fence and enter field of play to try and get in the face of anyone who could be bothered to waste their energy, and then childishly deliberately kick two match footballs in the neighbouring gardens in front of everyone was a particular low point on an afternoon of controversy.

The only plus point for us coming out of yesterday was the three points and a clean sheet which sees us stay 5 points clear at the top of the league. But all in all an afternoon to move on from and forget for both sides.

Full match gallery from David Jeffrey here

https://www.davidjefferyphotography.net/29-12-18-steyning-vs-lhampton

Town line up v Worthing

Banasco – Zaragoza, Gathern, Timms, Levoi, Clark, Maher, Faber, Haulkham, Gritt, Radmore, Bacon Subs: Neatherway, Parazo, Taylor, Bull, Hunter

Town v Littlehampton

Banasco – Zaragoza, Gathern, Timms, Levoi, Clark, Maher, Faber, Bull, Gritt, Radmore, Bacon Subs: Neatherway, Parazo, Taylor, Haulkham, Hunter