Sidley power to impressive win

The Blues needed a good performance to restore confidence after going out of the Hastings Senior Cup to an under-strength Westfield in midweek, and they duly obliged as goals from Peter Baker and Graham Morris saw off opponents who last season had won 8-1 on Sidley soil.

To round off a good day, relegation rivals East Preston lost 2-0 at Rye & Iden United which meant Sidley were able to clamber out of the bottom three in Sussex Division One.

Sidley joint manager Andy Laskey said: "It was a good performance and a good result. The defence was excellent, which made a huge difference because in recent games we have been leaking goals, mainly due to individual errors.

"We kept our shape rather than people losing their positions and that obviously helped," he went on. "Chichester is always a hard battle because they are a top half of the table team but after the first 20 minutes we got on top and remained in control of the game. The longer the game went on the more we grew in confidence."

Things didn't start too brightly for the home side though as they conceded a series of free kicks in dangerous areas. The defence stood firm, however, and the only time Peter Newstead's goal came under genuine threat was from a Adrian Brockway half-volley which clipped the upright.

Once Sidley had found their feet they gradually took command with Dave Ward and Jordan Wood both failing to make the most of decent openings. Keith Miles looked to have scored on 37 minutes with a flying header from a Baker cross but the ball cannoned against the post and rebounded across goal.

Sidley finally made the breakthrough in the fifth minute of first half injury time when Baker took advantage of a fortunate ricochet deep in Chi territory to execute a delightful chip over stranded goalkeeper Gary Smart for his 22nd goal of the season.

The impressive Baker so nearly claimed his second soon after half time with a nonchalant free kick which completely deceived a leaden-footed Smart, but the curling shot smacked against the angle of the Chi goal.

Jimmy Watson and Ward both went close before Morris delivered the second goal Sidley craved by getting ahead of his marker at a 77th minute Baker corner to power a header into the top corner of the net.