Promotion-chasing Oak face crunch league clashes

Oak made it ten wins from their last 11 Southern Combination League Division 1 matches with a emphatic 5-0 home success over Ringmer on Saturday.

That victory left them in fifth place, level on points with fourth-placed Oakwood, and six away from Storrington, who sit in the final promotion place.

Oak have three games in hand on Swans but with a trip to Oakwood on Saturday, before a home clash with already promoted Haywards Heath two days later, Whittington sees the Easter fixtures as key in Oak’s promotion charge.

He said: “I still think it’s going to be tough for us to get a top three finish.

“We have still got to play Haywards Heath twice, Oakwood and Crawley Down Gatwick.

“These next two games are going to be crucial for us. If we are to finish in that top three, I think we’ll need to stay on this unbeaten run.

“If we win all of our remaining games we go up but we’ve got a really tricky run.

“We’ve done well at Oakwood in the past and hopefully that continues on Saturday.

“A positive result in that one would set us up nicely for Haywards Heath.

“They have beaten everyone this season but they could have a chance of being crowned champions that day, so they could well be a little nervous.”

In-form Oak show no sign of letting up and a brace from James Seltzer, along with strikes from Jamie Watts, Adam Dine and Nick Lansdale made in ten wins from 11 on Saturday.

Seltzer and Watts both netted in the first half as Oak led 2-0 at the break.

Seltzer got his second eight minutes after the break, before Dine struck with 20 minutes to go.

Lansdale then rounded off the scoring to keep up Oak’s outstanding recent form.

Whittington felt it was a good showing and sets them up nicely for the upcoming crunch clashes.

He said: “I felt a little bit for Ringmer on the day. They only had a couple of substitutes and that got them in the end.

“I felt we should have been more than two goals up at the break. They looked quite dangerous on the counter, which gave them a little sniff.

“But we were a lot more clinical in the second half and 5-0 was probably a fair reflection in the end.

“It’s nice to keep that run we are on going for another week at least and it sets us up nicely for a couple of really difficult games we have coming up.

“We’ll just be taking it game by game and see what we can do before the season ends.”

MILE OAK: Stenning; Hall, Pollard, Lansdale, Whiting; French, Gould; Arnold, Seltzer, Dine; Watts. Subs: Shooman (Arnold), Gillingham (Watts), Donaldson (Seltzer), Harley.

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