Walker goal sees Lancing beat Pagham

LANCING Football Club joint manager Martin Gander praised his side’s resilience and organisation as the backbone for their 1-0 win at Pagham that saw Lancers go second in County League Division 1 on Saturday.

Charlie Walker’s goal in the 12th-minute proved decisive as Lancers held firm to leapfrog a stuttering Pagham side who had started the season with 13 successive league wins but have now slipped to third.

Walker has now netted in all five games he has played for Lancers, scoring seven times, since joining from Shoreham, where he had hit 15 goals this season, and the in-form frontman also netted a hat-trick for Sussex against London last Wednesday.

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Gander said: “We were fantastic, the players did exactly as we asked and we kept a very good side quiet by being so compact, resilient and well organised.

“We’re second on merit and to be in the top group with Rye, Three Bridges, Pagham and Redhill is great for a club like us. We haven’t set targets but I’m very proud of everyone.

“We got the job done, it’s a great win, and we’ll just see whether we can stay second or not. We’re enjoying it and we’re playing our own way and not worrying about anyone else at the moment with 12 games left.”

Pagham saw some early opportunities go begging in a first half dominated by Lancers.

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Walker fired his side ahead after he was allowed time and space to score, while Danny Gainsford headed over, Walker had another effort saved and Lee Garnham hit a post.

Pagham had most of the ball after the break and Tony Di Bernardo made one good stop from a James Temple effort but Lancers’ keeper was otherwise rarely troubled.

At the other end, Lancing had chances to double their lead but Walker shot over when he was in on goal and Garnham fired over after he got through.

Gander added: “To use an old cliché, we’ll take each game and each month as it comes. We’ve got two tough away games at Sidley and Crowborough coming up, so then we’ve got eight at home and two away, which is in our favour.

“There are some quality teams in there with us, so we’ll keep going and see what happens.”

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