The Lions’ interest in this season’s Senior Cup ended as Three Bridges edged a game that saw little goal action but plenty of feisty festive football. The Lions started the match with Wes Hallett restored in goal, Joe Booker and Neil Murfin both missing as Paul Jones & Phil Turner came back to the first team. As early as the first minute Pagham could have taken the lead, James Temple clean through on Simon Lekhyj’s goal. Play switched to the other end, with former Horsham hit-man Lee Carney striking a ball that Wes Hallett did well to parry. Ross Woolf tested Lekhyj as both sides tried to gain an edge. Three Bridges’ play was certainly robust, with Ellis Hooper fortunate to escape a booking for a pair of tackles within two minutes of each other. Even more fortunate was James Grant, whose sliding tackle upended Ross Woolf in front of an incandescent Pagham crowd. Protests waved away by referee Mr Pike, the game continued.The visitors pressed on, with Alex Ward & Paul Jones having to be alert to threats. When Pagham did get the ball, the lack of any real cutting edge showed through. Scott Murfin & James Temple harried and hustled, but the right ball never fell for them. Closest the home side came in the first half was when Tom Broadbent tried to repeat his cross-cum-shot of a few weeks ago, only to see Simon Lekhyj easily collect the ball. Ross Woolf was having a vintage match on the left, with a run & shot on 41 minutes being scrambled away. Just as the teams looked toward half time, Tim Rivers scored a flowing strike from range to give the visitors the lead at the break.

The second half opened with Rivers hitting the ball just over the bar & Clint Moore striking just wide of an open goal. Back came Pagham, and Pip Turner was clean through, only for Lekhyj to race out to clear the danger. Scott Murfin then scuffed a shot wide of the post as the Lions ran out of steam a little. Abu Touray’s pace paid dividends on the hour mark as he skipped passed all his opponents before Scott Hinshelwood dug in to clear the ball. Lengthy treatment for Tom Broadbent saw the Lions down to 10 men whilst pacy physio Colin Mills did his bit with the magic sponge. Phil Turner left the pitch on seventy minutes, with Dan Simmonds replacing him. Ross Woolf again bore down on Lekhyj’s goal, but his efforts came to nothing. A poor Pagham clearence on eighty minutes gave Carney all the time in the world to shoot, but he was off-target. Carl Stabler then went for broke, taking off Hinshelwood, bringing on Michael Frangou, fresh from a brace of goals against Horsham Reserves. With all this striking power on the pitch, Pagham raced forward. Into the area flew Dan Simmonds, appeared to be upended, but picked up a booking for his pains, adjudged to have dived. Three Bridges’ Ellis Hooper also saw yellow a couple of minutes later following a series of niggling tackles culminating in a late assault on Dan Simmonds. The dying minutes of the game saw goalmouth scrambles in Three Bridges area coming to nothing, before Paul Jones agonisingly shot just over the bar.

Pagham; W.Hallett, S.Hinshelwood(M.Frangou 82), T.Broadbent, D.Pearce, A.Ward, P.Jones, P.Turner (D.Simmonds 70), M.Wood, J.Temple, S.Murfin, R.Woolf; B.Buckland, G.Robinson, J.Price
Three Bridges; S.Lekhyj; C.Cooke, N.Brake, A.Howard, E.Hooper, J.Grant, J.O’Hare, L.Carney, C.Moore, T.Rivers, A.Touray