The Lions whimpered as they came close to dropping out of the FA Cup against what was an under-strength Hailsham Town. With the less than impressive victory against Worthing United in midweek, Gary Block’s side were looking to improve matters. The manager chose to play a virtually unchanged side, although the return of Sean Towers on the bench was a welcome sight. The first 10 minutes saw chances for both siodes, with Hailsham’s Marcus Whiteman going closest with a strike that was just scrambled away for a corner. Calum Britton did test Purdie in the Stringers’ goal, but otherwise Pagham looked strangely subdued. A series of pernickety decisions by the officials didn’t help the game flow, and as the weather worsened, so did the standard of play on show. Neither side seemed to want the win, and it wasn’t until the half hour mark that Pagham mounted another decent attack. Jamie Angell’s shot went wide of the left hand upright, but didn’t have a prayer of hitting the target. The visitors increasingly relied on dead-ball situations.but looked equally unlikely to score. Half time came as a relief to those watching a game which was already drifting.

The second half commenced with a change in the Pagham line-up. Gary Block chose to make a tactical switch, taking off Jamie Angell and bringing on the combative Sean Towers. As the Lions began to force the pace a little, the visitors took the lead. Lee Barnard capitalised on some slack defending to strike an easy goal passed Wes Hallett. The Lions hit back, and Michael Frangou was unlucky to see his chance cleared by Mintram. The same Pagham player was involved in perhaps the Lions best chance of the half on 65 minutes when a Tim Lester free-kick wormed its way to Rob Wimble. Wimble stroked the ball across goal, and Frangou was inches too much behind the ball. Nevertheless, things did begin to look more promising for the home team. Pagham then made a double substitution with Frangou and Keiron Urquhart leaving the pitch to be replaced by Brett Forden and Dan Cox. The former especially would prove a threat in the air, something which had been lacking in Pagham’s play up to this point. Forden did himself no favours though when fluffing a chance that came from good work by Calum Britton. However, spirits were lifted at Nyetimber lane with a quarter hour to go. Rob Wimble took a pin-point pass in his stride, ran down the right wing, moved into the centre and buried the ball in the far corner of the net. Classic goal and superb approach play by Pagham. This prompted the visitors to attack more rather than playing for time. Sean Dobbs was forced to clear off the line with time ticking down, and the final chance fell to Rob Wimble when the ball just fell kindly for Purdie in the Stringers’ goal. The two teams left the field knowing they’d have to do it all again next Tuesday at the Beaconsfield