In a match where despite the absence of several key players, Town battled hard and put in a decent performance and at times looked more than capable of winning with the decisive goal not coming until the very final seconds of injury time.

Back into the side came Sam Gritt and Rob Clark with Sam Pargeter and Dave Francis coming in on the bench. Unavailable on the day were Rob Hare, Lee Early, Craig Knowles, Lewis Levoi, Mo Shug'ga and Paul Kennett.

Having beaten our hosts 3-0 only two weeks previously at the Shooting Field we arrived at the Oaks with high hopes but the match did not start very well for us when four minutes in, after a poor kick from Jeal, a through ball found the feet of AFC front man Elliott Wood who raced into our box and drove a powerful shot past Aaron Jeal to give them the lead. 1-0 to AFC.

The early set back did not deter us however as we went in keen pursuit of an equalizer. Within a five minute spell shots from Chad Milner and Rob Clark were cleared off their line with Chad doing extremely well to get a shot in, having had his back to goal in the box with a defender breathing right down his neck.

After more forays and pretty much constant pressure from Steyning, on 22 minutes the equalizer arrived when a low Kris Harding cross from the right was laid off in the box by Milner for Rob Clark coming in at the far post to shoot under keeper Tom Bradford into the far side of the net. 1-1, back in it!

AFC always looked dangerous going forward but Kerry Parsons marshaled the troops very well and the defence coped admirably under pressure in particularly with keeping out the ever present threat of forwards Wood and Scott Taylor. In midfield we battled hard, winning most of the '50-50' balls with Jack Boxall getting through some good solid work.
Near the break, for them Howard Davey hit a long range effort just over and for us Matt Dodd curled a shot from the edge of the box narrowly wide of the right hand post.

So at the break, level and all to play for. Half time - AFC Uckfield 1 Steyning 1

A few minutes into the second period we nearly went behind again when the lively Wood broke away to cross from the left for Taylor to hit first time just wide. We continued with our endeavor with Chad running his legs off and on 60 nearly gave us the lead when shooting at their keeper after a neat ball from Harding.

Play then swung to to our end again with Aaron saving well with his feet from Wood and from the resulting corner a fierce Scott Taylor header was headed off the line by Jack Boxall (not sure how much he knew about it!!)

John Suter then replaced Clarky with Curt Milner. We continued to defend well and also to press with Matt Dodd hitting another long range shot just over and Harding also going close.

Late pressure from AFC saw Aaron save well again with his feet from Wood and an effort from former Steyning player David Harris flew just over.

For the last five minutes Suter put on debutants Sam Pargeter and Dave Frances for Harding and Gritt.With the clock running down we came close to snatching the lead when the Milners combined with Chad breaking down the right to deliver a nice low cross which Curt pulled just wide of the left upright.

As the match entered into injury time and just as it looked like we'd be taking a point home with us, AFC front man Scott Taylor ran onto a through-pass to hit a terrific, but speculative, half volleyshot from just outside the box, which absolutely flew into the top right corner of our net with what was virtually the last kick of the match (and the season).

Final score - AFC Uckfield 2 Steyning 1

Such a shame to lose it right at the 'death' and after such a valiant and spirited performance against a promotion winning side AND with a number of key players missing. Everyone put in a great shift, Jack Boxall was outstanding and Chad Milner's work-rate throughout was phenomenal. And, hopefully we can keep this decent squad of players together for next season. Despite the unfortunate nature of the defeat spirits were high in the changing room afterwards as this close knit side shared a few beers bought by the club at the end of hard season.

Town line up - Jeal, Gritt (Pargeter), Pickup, Finch, Parsons (capt), Towse, Clark (Curt Milner), Dodd, Harding (Francis), Boxall, Chad Milner No unused subs

Ref - Greg Walker Assts - Robin Hall & Anthony Scott