High-energy Shoreham battle to hard-fought win

Despite rain early in the morning, the match went ahead on a heavy surface and O’Toole was delighted with the way his side played as they remained on top of the Southern Combination League.

Nearest rivals Haywards Heath also won, 2-0 at home to Peacehaven & Telscombe, to stay one point behind Shoreham, although the leaders have two games in hand.

O’Toole said: “It was really important to get the game on and to get the win.

“We knew it would be a proper battle but we were brilliant and full of energy.

“When we haven’t had games, we’ve been training on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and it showed.

“In the first half they were in the game but we stepped it up a gear in the second half and they couldn’t live with us.

“We’ve just got to keep ticking the games off one at a time. If we win 12 of our last 14 matches, we win the league.

“Haywards Heath will keep winning, I’ve got no doubt about that, so we’ve just got to keep doing the same.”

Mussels started brightly but found Heath keeper Michael Chester in inspired form.

He denied Kevin Keehan twice and Tom Burton with fantastic saves, before Shoreham took the lead on 35 minutes when Joe Dryer drilled the ball home at Chester’s near post.

Burton and Dryer then had efforts saved, before the visitors could have levelled but Jamal Sultan fired over when he got through.

Shoreham went 2-0 up 15 minutes from time when Rob O’Toole received the ball from Dryer and fired home low into the bottom corner for his 30th goal of the season.

Mussels then added a third five minutes later. Mark Goldson played in Joe Keehan, whose strike was heading wide but Burton stopped the ball and then shot home from 15 yards.

Ryan Storrie almost added a fourth but was denied by another terrific Chester save.

Bryan O’Toole said: “It was an excellent team performance but Robin Deen was brilliant again for us.

“His work-rate is superb and he’s really come to life since the Bognor game. Hopefully he’ll continue to go from strength to strength for the remainder of the season.”

O’Toole also praised visiting keeper Chester and said: “He was outstanding and made some saves that, apart from maybe Josh Heyburn, I don’t think any other keeper in the league would have saved.”

SHOREHAM: Heyburn; Packer, Hartley, K.Keehan, Denyer, O’Hagan, Deen, J.Keehan, R.O’Toole, Burton, Dryer. Subs: Goldson, Cradock, Storrie.

Don't miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you'll be amongst the first to know what's going on.

1 Make this website your homepage

2 Like our Facebook page at facebook.com/pages/Sport-Sussex

3 Follow us on Twitter @SportSussex

4 Register with us by clicking on 'sign in' (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don't miss out!