Wick move on to face FA Vase semi-finalists Whitehawk in the last four, while Mussels still have cup interest in the Sussex Senior Cup and Brighton Charity Cup.

Wick's passage through did not look cut-and-dried for the first 20 minutes as Shoreham had the better of the early exchanges, and they went one-up through a deflected Ryan Bradley strike on eight minutes after a neat one-two with James Rhodes.

Had it not been for Alex Bryant's fingertips, Owen Callaghan could have doubled Shoreham's lead, but it was not to be and Wick slowly came back into the game.

It was no surprise when they equalised in the 35th minute after some nice one-touch stuff on the halfway line. George Gaskin played a ball through the Shoreham defence to Murfin, who drilled past Michael Hunter in the Shoreham goal.

Bradley could have had a second just before the break when he capitalised on a poor clearance but his lob finished on the roof of the net.

Wick have been far stronger in the second half of games this season and so it proved in this game. Just five minutes in, Hunter brought Murfin down to concede a penalty and earn himself a yellow card in the process. Murfin dispatched the kick down the middle to give Wick the lead.

Shoreham had strong claims for a penalty themselves in the 76th minute that were waved away by referee Paul John, who otherwise had an excellent game.

Wick made sure of the win when substitute James West played an inch perfect pass into the path of the on-rushing Murfin who coolly chipped the ball over an advancing Hunter with four minutes left on the clock.
There was still time for Bradley to score a consolation volley from six yards deep into injury time, but it was too little, too late for Mussels.

Shoreham joint manager Darren Donnelly rued his side's lack of clear-cut opportunities and said: "I was impressed with our general play, but we didn't have enough quality in the box.

"It was frustrating really because I felt that we could have had a couple of penalties, but we're just not getting the rub-of-the green at the moment."

Mussels will find out their quarter-final opponents in the Sussex Senior Cup on Tuesday when Hastings and Lewes meet in their third round replay. If Hastings win, the last eight tie will be played on March 23, but if Lewes win it will be on March 31.

SHOREHAM: Hunter, Tidey, Jordan, Lewis, Boddy; Callaghan, Smith, Eastman, Rhodes; Blundell, Bradley. Subs: Mott (Lewis 60), Wild (Blundell 65), Burt, Fogden.

Mile Oak director of football Dan Towse is refusing to give up hope of his team's survival in County League Division 1 after they fell six points from safety on Saturday.

Oak went down 2-0 at fellow strugglers Ringmer, who then drew 0-0 at Whitehawk on Monday, and Towse said: "It was a tight game and things are easy when you're winning but difficult when you're not.

"I do think we're worthy of our place in Division 1, but things are done so much quicker and, although we're adapting to it now, after spending 10 years in Division 2, to make the sudden step up is difficult.

"But we'll keeping working and keep fighting until it's mathematically impossible for us to stay up."

Oak got off to a nightmare start and Kieran Patel put Ringmer ahead inside five minutes. David Altendorf made it 2-0 on 20 minutes to leave Oak with an uphill battle.

They fought back and had chances but Clay Lamont struck the bar, Chris Paine fired a free kick over and Lamont saw another effort go wide.

MILE OAK: Stenning; Sargent, Paine, Porter, Ash; P.Martin, French, G.Martin, Rowland; Lamont, MacMillan. Subs: Ransom (MacMillan 65), Kerly (French 75), Lansdale (Sargent 85), Aylett, Whiting.

A goal from Danny Leach gave promotion-chasing Rye all three points against relegation-threatened Southwick in Division 2.

The high-flyers were pushed all the way by Wickers, whose joint boss Dominic Shepherd said: "We played really well, they were a physical side but we dealt with that aspect of their game.

"The effort and work-rate was excellent and we were unlucky not to nick a point. We've lost Neil Harris to Worthing United, like several of our good players, and we've got them on Saturday, so it should be interesting."

Leach's goal came in the 36th minute and, despite pushing hard, Wickers were unable to force an equaliser.

SOUTHWICK; Harding; Harris, Frampton, Rahaman, Murray; Stideford, MacNeill, McLeod, Steele; Shepherd, Wotherspoon. Subs: Walton (Steele 75), Dixon (Frampton 82), Tighe, Church.

Pat Rose went from hero to villain for Steyning Town on Saturday in their 2-1 home defeat to Wealden in Division 2.

With 15 minutes left, Rose had drawn Town level after they were awarded what Steyning boss Mark Dalgleish admitted was a soft-looking penalty when Sesi Blackley went down.

But deep in injury-time, Rose lost possession, when he turned inside instead of knocking the ball down the line, and Wealden broke to get the winner through Jack Divall.

That left Dalgleish furious and he said: "It was really annoying as it was another stupid mistake which cost us.

"Pat scored the penalty but it doesn't mean anything when we don't get anything. That said, there were a lot of positives to come out of the game. We played some good football and I thought we deserved to get something."

Town continued with the 3-5-2 formation they played the previous week and neither side had many chances in the first half.

Steyning went closest when Blackley was denied by a point-blank range save and when Shaun Pickup's cross just evaded both Blackley and Nani Ali.

Town had limited Wealden's opportunities in the first half but they went ahead on 48 minutes when Andrew McDowell struck after Steyning keeper Mike Abbott had parried a shot.

Wealden then had chances to extend their lead but Abbott made an excellent save, they hit the post and missed three excellent openings from close range.

Steyning made them pay when Rose converted the spot-kick and Andy Whittingham then blazed well wide from 12 yards before Wealden snatched all three points.

STEYNING: Abbott; Parsons, Hourigan, Goodridge; Pickup, Dutton, Pratt, Rose, Whittingham; Blackley, Ali. Subs: Pargeter (Ali 70), Britton (Pratt 75), Edmonds (Blackley 87).

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