'Groundhog Day' for Shoreham in Peacehaven & Telscombe defeat

The Musselmen held the lead at half-time after Neil Watts’ goal but second half strikes from Cameron Wiltshire, Callum Hart, Aaron Daniels, and Matt Cheeseman consigned Shoreham to their fourth defeat in five in all competitions.

Donnelly said: “For me, as a manager, it was like Groundhog Day. We went there in the FA Vase and we were 1-0 up at half-time and we came out and conceded within quarter-of-an-hour and we made it easy for them.

“I knew they would be strong coming down the hill. They played the slope quite well and second half they came at us down the slope and scored.

“In the first half we were organised and defended manfully. We restricted them to two chances with five minutes before half-time but other than that they didn’t really trouble us. Second half it was like watching the same game when we had previously lost to Peacehaven.

“In the first half we stuck to a good pattern of play and worked hard and we got somewhere. The second half was definitely disappointing.”

SEE ALSO Shoreham Football Club invest in youth coaches at all levels | Shoreham 'didn't reach the standard' in Broadbridge Heath defeat | Donnelly says Shoreham have 'room to keep improving' after late Little Common equaliserThe Musselmen took the lead on 24 minutes as Watts drilled past Alieu Secka in the home goal but the Tye responded with Tyler Scrafton, Hart, and Bradley Bant all creating chances.

Shoreham went into the break ahead but Peacehaven came out looking to exert pressure. The hosts were finally rewarded on the hour as Wiltshire hit the equaliser and two minutes later Hart rounded Mitch Bromage in the Musselmen goal to put the Peacehaven in front.

The home side had two more chances through Scrafton and Wiltshire, but they had to wait until 83 minutes for the third.

Sub Daniels curled a beautiful shot into the corner to net his first goal for the club and a minute later Cheeseman fired home from close range to make it four.

The Tye even had time for one last chance before the final whistle, but Daniels’ header from a Scrafton shot went wide.

Donnelly paid credit to Peacehaven but felt the lack of a striker hindered them.

He added: “All goals are scored quite quickly. You have to give them credit, they moved the ball around well and they played to their strengths.

“We lacked an out-and-out striker as Ryan McBride was unavailable and we lost Tom Fraser to an injury.

“You can make excuses but it was almost definitely a game of two halves, where the first half was a reasonable performance. There’s always bits you can take out of the game, win, lose, or draw.

“Our first half performance was more than acceptable although in open play we missed a striker. In the second half once they got the first goal I think some of us dropped our heads a little bit.”

Despite the result, Donnelly looked to the positives ahead of a fortnights break.

He said: “My teams win together and they lose together, however a player I would single out is our goalkeeper Mitch Bromage.

“He didn’t make one mistake for any of the goals so if I was to take anything out of our second half performance it would be that the goalkeeper had an admirable game.

“You have to take the positives and you have to work on the negatives. The second half was Peacehaven’s, but the first half was an even sort of game.”

Shoreham: M Bromage, Watts, Proto-Gates, J Tuck, T Bromage, Dunk, Bunker, Coltherd-Walls, Fraser, Myers, S Tuck. Subs: Collyer, Firman, Goatley.