Bexhill beaten but show improvement

United competed well with a side which has been victorious in 13 of its 14 league fixtures and even won the second half on Saturday.

Bexhill have now played the top three teams in their last three matches and have put up a decent fight against them all.

Manager Bill Trivett said: "The second half performance was very good and if we had started the game like that I think we could have caused a surprise."

For all their commendable spirit and determination right to the end, the problem for third-bottom United was that they were out of the game by half time.

Rustington played some lovely football during the first period and took the lead on 10 minutes when Andy Smart cut in from the left to score after latching on to a great through ball.

Bexhill then switched from three at the back to 4-4-2 and the change worked in as much as Rustington were forced to shoot from distance.

But that didn't really seem to bother them because Sean Duffy fired in the 21st minute second and Smart the 38th minute third from outside the penalty area.

United started to play some good stuff of their own after the break, though, and were the better side over the closing 45 minutes.

They created four decent chances to their opponents' none only to find visiting goalkeeper Andy McCarthy in tremendous form.

Bexhill did at least manage to nab a consolation, Dave Carey tricking the goalkeeper after receiving a pass from David Harris in the 63rd minute.

Another positive for United was the promising performances of new signings Roy Prodger and Neil Quigley as second half substitutes.