Lavant 2 Newtown Villa 2

Dan Baker in on the Newtown Villa keeper

Saturday saw Lavant host Bognor side Newtown Villa with the home side keen to capitalise on the visitors’ indifferent form and seek revenge on the 5-4 thriller earlier in the season.

Lavant again started in a positive manor, something that has been prominent in performances of recent weeks and it didn’t take long for them to notch yet another early goal. Paul Jones winning the ball on the edge of his own area and stepping out with the ball, then finding Sandford who held the ball up well. Hancock made a good decoy run down the right as Jones continued his run that was found by a neat reverse through ball from Sandford and finished off what was a great flowing move.

The game then got scrapping with Newtown intent on their direct approach to Matt Russell whose dual with Lavant’s Paul Jones was always going to be a clash of titans. Lavant’s build up play became erratic and were more intent on flicking the ball round the corner or hooking overhead rather than their proven passing game. Perhaps the surface which was a little on the bobbley side contributed to this but it certainly made life easy for the Newtown defence.

With halftime approaching Lavant made it two with Sandford beating the off side trap to race clear, beating the keeper to the ball and poke home.

It was a familiar position Lavant found themselves in and an all too familiar second half performance. Expecting Newtown to come at the home side, Lavant changed their tactics to a more direct approach to ensure territory over possession and this stopped an early goal for the visitors. Unfortunately Lavant never got out of this mind set and the football on show was far from pretty from either side.

Newtown eventually got some reward for their perseverance and was awarded a penalty for a contentious handball against Jones. Russell stepped up to take the spot kick and was saved by Sanson.

Shortly after Newtown got themselves on the score sheet, a well delivered corner kick resulted in a game of pinball in the Lavant area, somehow the ball found its way into the back of the net despite 3 players being down with head injuries, 2 of which were Lavants including the keeper, however the goal stood, 2-1.

It was backs to the wall time for Lavant now who were struggling to maintain any form of possession and the ball continuing to rain down on the defence like mortar fire. But it was a catalogue of errors that eventually let Newtown draw level. Wright inexcusably giving the ball away with a wild clearance into the middle of the park allowed a smart through ball from Villa and saw the on running Russell taken clean out by Lyttle in the area, penalty kick number 2. This saw a change in kick taker by Villa but Sanson again saved only for this time the rebound being tucked away 2-2.

Lavant can only look back at this fixture as 2 points lost after taking such a commanding position into the break and with league leaders Cowfold losing for the second successive week only compounds the disappointment further.

Team: Neil Sanson, Richard Gabb, Paul Jones, Matt Lyttle, Jon Wright, Ollie Haggar, James Brooks, James Batten, Aaron Hancock, Dave Knight, James Sandford (c). Subs: Mike Neville, Dan Baker, Ben Purgavie.

James Sandford skips the Newtown Villa tackle

The Unicorn 1 Lavant 4
Chichester Charity Cup Semi Final

Lavant Sunday team won through to the Charity Cup Final with a convinicing away win to Division I side the Unicorn this Sunday.

Goal Scorers: Gary Jefkins, Stuart Loversidge, Alan Sheppard and Paul Cooper.
Man of the Match: Barry McCoy

Full mach report to follow.

Team: Rob Baylis, Ben Evens, Gary Jefkins (c), Barry McCoy, Carl Drinkwater, Darren Pannell, Dave Maclean, Olli Haggar, Paul Cooper, Alan Sheppard, Stuart Loversidge.  Subs: Graham Fargagr, Nick Eccles, Louis Weller, Daryl Hayward-Hall

The Cup Final will take place on Thursday 30th April at Arundel Football Club. 7.30pm Kick-Off

West Sussex League

Malcolm Simonds Cup

Nyetimber Pirates 2 Ockley 1
Lancing 0 Predators 2

Premier League

Lavant 2 Newtown Villa 2
Faygate 0 Upper Beeding 6
Henfield 5 Holbrook 1
West Chiltington 3 Cowfold 2

Division IV South

Predators Reserves 10 Tangmere 0
The Unicorn 0 Ajax Trees 8

Chichester & West Sussex Sunday Football Legaue

Charity Cup, Semi Finals

Unicorn 1 Lavant 4
Six Villages Utd 3 The Claremont 4

Division II

Avisford Sports 1 BR Railway Club 2
Westbourne 2 LG Utd 2

All remaining league fixtures this season on Saturday’s have now reverted back to the normal 3.00pm Kick-Off time.

Cowfold suffer their first league defeat of the season

Lavant 3 Cowfold 2

This Saturday saw Lavant welcome unbeaten league leaders Cowfold to the Village Green and if Lavant were to harbour any hopes of mounting a serious challenge for the league title it was a must win game of football.

As one of the footballing clichés say, football is a game of 2 halves and this match certainly lived up that. Both sides started steadily, keeping the ball on the deck with some neat passing possession football. 7 minutes in, Lavant were provided gift after being awarded a freekick their own half. A long angled ball into the Cowfold area, their fullback attempted to head home but it was well read by Sandford who rounded the keeper a slotted home, 1-0.

On 20 minutes Lavant doubled their lead, Aaron Hancock with a well flighted corner kick finding Jones at the far post to head the home side two up. Jones continued to cause the league leaders problems from any Lavant set piece and was unlucky not to add to his tally on numerous occasions.

With halftime approaching came the move of the game, Lyttle winning the ball on the edge of his own area picked out Haggar whom laid on a superb through ball for Sandford to run onto and finish on style from 18 yards.

The second half started with Cowfold at Lavant from the off, pressing high and affording Lavant no time on the ball. Lavant survived a few early scares but were eventually undone 4 minutes into the half. An in-swinging free was spilt by keeper Sanson and although he managed to save the 1^st follow up it was eventually tuck in to make it 3-1.

The visitors clearly buoyed by this continued to cause the home side all kinds of problems but the defence stood firm one way or another.

On the hour mark came a moment of controversy, a long Cowfold throw bounced through a mele of players and found its was into the back of the net. But did it touch a player on the way in, the home side furiously protested that it hadn’t but the referee ruled that full back Wright had kicked into the roof of his own net. 3-2 and certainly game on for Cowfold.

Cowfold again probed away for that all important equalizer in order to maintain their unbeaten status but the Lavant held firm whilst looking dangerous on the counter.

This was a cracking result for Lavant and keeps their hopes of challenging for league honours alive with plenty of football still to come this season. Next week Lavant host Newtown Villa in which could be a entertaining encounter after the 5-4 score line earlier in the season.

Team: Neil Sanson, Richard Gabb, Paul Jones, Matt Lyttle, Jon Wright, Ollie Haggar, James Brooks, James Batten, Aaron Hancock, Dan Baker, James Sandford (c). Subs: Ben Purgavie, Mike Neville.

Petworth 1 Lavant 4
Cententary Cup

This weekend the first team travelled the short journey to face Petworth in the Centenary Cup.

Petworth are currently top of Division I so this was on paper going to  be a hard cup tie.

The weather was clear and sunny and it felt like the first day of spring, the pitch had been cut and looked in great condition, ready for the cup tie.

Lavant started the game lively chasing down and hounding the home side right from kick-off, not giving them a chance to settle. Two minutes in and a great passing move between Dan Baker, Aaron Hancock and James Sandford, finished off with James Brooks shooting agonisingly wide.

Five minutes later Lavant’s early pressure paid off as they took a deservedly lead, after again chased down and winning the ball in midfield and an exquisite through ball to Sandford, allowing him to beat the defence and shooting past the out-coming keeper, o-1.

Lavant continued to exert pressure from the restart and almost straight away extended their lead further, but a neat Brook’s overhead kick was well saved by the busy Petworth keeper.

With twenty minutes gone Lavant’s free flowing football reaped further dividend, as Hancock broke down the left flank before crossing in on goal, as Sandford met the cross with a deft flick to score his second of the game, 0-2.

Two minutes later Lavant added another as Ollie Haggar’s through ball was met by Sandford who rounded the outcoming keeper and put into the back of an empty net, 0-3.

Petworth’s cup hopes were in tatters as they struggled to get a foothold in the game. Ten minutes before half time, things got worse, as a long through ball from Paul Jones was skilfully controlled by man of the match Dan Baker, who ran through to score Lavant’s fourth goal and give the visitors a commanding lead going into half time, 0-4.

At half time the team talk was around keeping the concentration and focus as we have had recent experience of a cup game where our opposition game back form a four-nil half time lead.

Bearing this in mind the focus was on not conceding in the first fifteen minutes. So the second half somewhat changed as Petworth expectedly worked hard to get back onto the game and so had more of the ball, whilst Lavant were less urgent in their paly as they knew Petworth had to chase the game.

As a result both teams had chance to score but neither side could make the breakthrough. A one point the play got a little bit scrappy as both sides made substitutions and changes.

To their credit Petworth battled right to the final whistle and with five minutes remaining only a great outstretched save from Lavant keeper Neil Sanson denied the homeside a goal.

Two minutes later Petworth did break their duck and get that conciliation goal, 1-4, but it was all too late as there was only three minutes of the match remaining and no time to reduce the deficit further.

At the final whistle Lavant had convincingly won the cup tie, effectively due to the great first half performance. They now face Beaumont Park in the Quarter Finals at Lavant village green on the 28^th March.

Team: Neil Sanson, Richard Gabb, Paul Jones, Matt Lyttle, Jon Wright, Ollie Haggar, James Brooks, Dave Knight, Aaron Hancock, Dan Baker, James Sandford (c). Subs: Ben Purgavie, Adam Yaxley.

Its a Yellow Weekend

This weekend both Saturday sides won their matches convincingly 9-0 and 5-0, whilst the Sunday team drew 2-2.

Wittering 0 Lavant 9

This weekend the first team travelled to local side Wittering, determined to move on from the previous week’s disappointing cup exit.

Conditions were not great, the pitch was uneven in places, covered in mole holes and the grass long in places especially down the flanks and near the corners.  To add to this, it had been raining heavily just before kick-off.

Straight from the whistle Lavant started well pushing forward and taking the game to Wittering.  The young Wittering side were for large spells pinned back defending their goal, but they were hard working and quick to counter attack at every opportunity.

As the first half progressed Lavant missed a number of chances and Wittering on the counter started to threatened Lavant’s goal.  So some frustration in Lavant’s play started to set in until finally Mike Neville chasing down a half chance finally opened the scoring for the visitors and settle their nerves.  The hardworking Neville then added another before James Sandford made it three-nil, ensuring Lavant went into half time with a commanding lead.

During the break Lavant’s team talk focused on getting the ball on the ground and playing more football and that is exactly what happened in the second period very effectively.  Again Wittering initally proved hard to breakdown, but eventually the gaps started to form as Wittering constntly chased the ball and Lavant took clincial advantage of every opportunity, scoring six more goals in the second half, with Sandford scoring twice more and goals from James Brooks, Oli Haggar, Paul Jones and Aaron Hancock.

The previous weeks cup result had been not forgotten, but this Lavant team now have the resiliance mindset as a team to move-on and learn fro any mistakes and now focus on the next game an away fixture in the Centenary Cup to Division I league leaders Petworth.

Team: Neil Sanson, Richard Gabb, Paul Jones, Matt Lyttle, Jon Wright, Mike Neville, James Brooks, Dave Knight, Aaron Hancock, Ollie Haggar, James Sandford (c). Subs: Ben Purgavie, Paul Taylor, Adam Yaxley.

Lavant Reserves 5 Tangmere 0

Lavant Reserves last game of the season was a home fixture against a local Tangmere team still in the process of rebuilding following the loss of their last seasons first team.

Tangmere on the day only managed to field the bare eleven players with no substitutes, and even though Lavant enjoyed a good away win against the visitors ealier in the season, they did not under estimate their current capabilities.

Lavant started the match strong following instructions of manager Martin Pullen to press the visitors hard and give them no time on the ball. The return of Henry Polack at the back strengthened the homeside’s defense and along with fellow centre-back Neale Watts and full-backs Martin Smith and Craig Spann they were able to contain any Tangmere threats with on Lavant’s goal .

At the other end of the pitch Lavant’s player in-form Lee Smith, scoring twice (one following up a Watts great free kick, saved, but not cleared by the Tangmere keeper) and provided two assists for Pete Caveney’s two first half goals, was instrumental to putting Lavant in full control of the game.

But again the other side of Smith’s play reared its head and words between Smith and Tangmere’s keeper Craig Longman escalated resulting in both players having to be spoken too stearnly by referee Martin Baron.   This long break in play did Lavant no favours taking their previous domination back to square one, but thankfully half time was approaching and Lavant managed to regain enough composure and make it to half timewith their four goals lead intact.

Stern words from Pullen followed at half time regarding discipline, priorities of not conceding any goals and keeping shape.

The second half saw Tangmere desperate to get back into the game and even though they were four goals down, to their credit, they never gave up. But Pete Caveney shattered any hopes of a Tangmere come back, scoring the only goal of the second half, completing his hatrick.

Substitutes Alex Holmes replaced Don Polack followed by Matt Grace replacing Dave Maclean in order to bolster the hardworking Lavant midfield lead by Neil Latham.

Then, fifteen minutes from the final whistle Smith was shown a straight red card following further words with the referee. Discipline once again spoiling a great footballing performance for this player.

The ten men of Lavant continued to press for a sixth goal, with Greg Ayling coming close in the closing stages. But at the final whistle the team were happy to end their season, scoring five goals, keeper Rob Baylis keeping a clean sheet and bagging three more points towards their final points tally, hoping it will be enough to secure third spot in the league and keep their slim chance of promotion alive.

Team: Rob Baylis, Craig Spann, Martin Smith, Henry Polack, Neale Watts, Neil Latham, Dave Maclean, Greg Ayling, Don Pollack, Pete Caveney, Lee Smith. Subs: Alex Holmes, Matt Grace

This Saturday’s Sussex Intermediate Semi-Final Cup game put the spot light on Lavant FC and on match day there was a good crowd of local supporters from both sides and also some football spectators that had travelled a long way to see the game in our lovely village green setting.

Gary Day travelled from Dorset to see and report on the game and provides football reports for  the South Coast Journalism’s website (click on the link below to see more) and click on the headline “Arundel Reserves win with dramatic late Goals” to read Gary’s indepth report of the game.

South Coast Journalism

Also on the day we had David Bauckham from East Sussex an award-winning photographer focusing on non-League football culture for more than a decade attend the match and he took some great action shots on the day, as well as great photo’s of the football being played on the village green.

Click on the link below to see a selection of some of the photo’s of the day.

Centre Circle Publishing

West Sussex League

Sussex Intermediate Cup – Semi Final

Lavant 2 Arundel Reserves 3 AET

Premier League

Upper Beeding 1 Predators 0

Division IV South

Chapel 2 Lavant Reserves 5

Chichester & West Sussex Sunday Football Legaue

Charity Cup (Quarter Final)

LG Utd 0 The Claremont 4

Invitation Cup – Group B

Unicorn 2 Lavant 1
Six Villages 5 Whyke 2

Division II

Avisford Sports 1 Hunston 5