With these two sides scoring 12 goals between them last Saturday, almost inevitably this game ended in a low scoring draw. That’s not to say it wasn’t exciting – far from it. Both keepers were kept busy, and James Misslebrook put in a man-of-the-match performance at right back for the Lions. With James Temple returning to the starting eleven for Pagham, Michael Frangou reverted to his unfamiliar role on the left wing. The opening exchanges went very much with Pagham, as both Temple and Joe Booker could have had the home side 2-0 up inside the first couple of minutes. Pagham were laying seige to Hassocks’ goal, and it wasn’t until nearly 20 minutes in that the visitors had a real chance, with Chris Maynard shooting just wide. Sam Jeremiah was, as ever, proving a nuisance up front for Hassocks, but the cutting edge from Saturday seemed to be missing. James Temple was again close with twenty five minutes gone, a superb ball in from George Gaskin allowing Temple a strike which went just wide. As the game moved passed the half hour, Hassocks got the opening goal. Hesitancy in Pagham’s defence allowed in Spenser Slaughter, who made no mistake from the left. This spurred Pagham on, with a long range shot just over from Gaskin the precursor to the Lions goal. A neat pass from Scott Murfin saw the ball despatched by Frangou as the sides went in at half time all square.

The second half started much as the first, with pagham on the attack. A switch to 4-3-3 made the Lions even more of a threat.within a few minutes of the restart, Frangou shot wide, and Temple headed over from a corner. Abbott had to be on his toes as the Lions started shooting practice, with Frango and Murfin especially causing problems. Phil Gault did keep Wes Hallett busy in Pagham’s goal but it was almost one-way traffic otherwise. James Misslebrooks runs down the right were proving a threat all match, none more so when crosses into the area caused panic in the Hassocks rearguard. The Lions could have gone ahead with a quarter hour to go when an in-swinging free-kick was only just punched out by Abbott. The ball then moved to the other end of the pitch with Andy Whittington testing Hallett from range. With Frangou off the pitch to be replaced by Ryan Cox, it was left to Temple and Murfin to try and eke an extra goal from somewhere. Fittingly though, James Misslebrook had the finest chance of the half, when his screaming shot from range was just tipped out for a corner. This bought to a close a game that was as entertaining as it was closely competed.

Pagham; W.Hallett, J.Misslebrook, A.Weir, D.Pearce, S.Boston, J.Booker, G.Gaskin, N.Murfin, M.Frangou, S.Murfin, J.Temple; R.Cox, R.French, L.Bradshaw, G.Robinson