Arundel FC

The Mullets put in an impressive display to shake off last week’s defeat and thrash last years Division 1 champions Eastbourne Utd 6-0.

Reds boss welcomed back Matt Axell and Phil Archibald having both served 3 match suspensions, while Russ Hardwell who was unavailable for the defeat at Crowborough also returned, with all 3 going into the starting eleven.

It was the visitors who made the better start to the match, dominating the opening 15 minutes, with the Mullets struggling to get any rhythm going at all.  They were presented a perfect opportunity to open the scoring when Russ Hardwell failed to spot Ben Billings getting to his feet having taken a moment to recover from a challenge on the edge of the Mullets box and attempted  a back pass which only served as a perfect through ball for the United winger but Ben O’Connor raced from his line to smother Billings’ effort and the home side were let off further when Lucas Mann somehow put the rebound over.

Having survive the early pressure from the champions, the Mullets started to assert themselves on the game and put together so attacking moves of their own.  It was just before the half hour that one of these moves provided the home side with the lead.  A good move down the left involving Gary Norgate and Howard Neighbour gave Norgate the space to pick out Scott Tipper in the six yard box and he did well to get to the ball first and poke it home.

A second goal arrived just 10 minutes later.  Tipper’s burst into the box resulted in him being tripped by a United defender and Paul Barratt awarded the Mullets a somewhat soft penalty but none the less Norgate stepped up to mark his first game back at Mill Road with his second goal from the spot in as many games since returning from Bognor.

Perhaps crucially in terms of the final outcome of the match the reds managed to get a third minutes before half time.  Josh Biggs’ near post corner was met well by Howard Neighbour amongst a cluster of players, who headed home.

The match was all but killed off as a contest just 5 minutes into the second half with a carbon copy of the goal which saw the Mullets go 3-0 ahead.  This time Howard Neighbour got on the end of a Russ Hardwell corner from the right, beating the keeper to the ball to head home.

It got even better for the home side just minutes later when another attacking break saw Hardwell again the provider, this time his dinked cross to the back post found Norgate in space who met it with a ferocious left foot volley which flew into the top corner giving the Eastbourne keeper absolutely no chance.

Inevitably the pace of the game slowed somewhat after this, with credit going to the away side who kept attacking in an attempt to find a way back into the game.  They nearly did so on a couple of occasions, Ben O’Connor producing a fine save after Lucas Mann had turned well on the edge of the box before firing goalwards.

The home side also had chances to extend their lead further with Neighbour screwing a shot inches passed the post, then substitute Dan Bassil stabbed a shot against the post before eventually the scoring was complete in the final minutes of the match when Neighbour latched onto a fumble by the away keeper to turn the ball home and complete his hat-trick and also a great day for the Mullets.

Mullets assistant manager Simon Butler was delighted with the win ‘Everyone was superb today and it’s an example of what the team can do if we play to our capabilities, which unfortunately we haven’t done on enough occasions this season’ ‘We rode our luck in the early minutes but we did something we haven’t done many times this season and that’s take our chances’ ‘Last Saturday’s result was bitterly disappointing but this was the perfect response and we need to take the same level of performance into Tuesday nights game with Ringmer’

Team: O’Connor; Sneller, Axell, Archibald, Grantham; Biggs(R), Biggs(J)(capt), Neighbour; Hardwell, Norgate, Tipper. Subs: Hall (Biggs(R)), Pickford (Sneller), Bassil (Tipper).

Pictures from the game can be found at Terry Buckman’s excellent gallery here.