Upper Beeding 4-2 Haywards Heath

The worst nightmares of debutante Upper Beeding goalkeeper Adrian "Percy"
Parsons became reality within twenty two seconds of their fixture with
Haywards Heath on Saturday.

A harmless looking through ball was left by both Parsons and defender Darren
Jordan and Heaths' Martin Smith was on hand to smash the ball into an empty
net.

Haywards Heath lost centre forward Ashley Mahoney after just 8 minutes after
a tackle with Beeding skipper John Burgess, replacing the injured striker
with Russell Harris.

Heath retained the ball well, but gradually Beeding were coming to terms
with their visitors passing and movement and could have drawn level on 18
minutes when Paul Barker sent Joe Bennett away down the right and his low
cross was flicked goal wards by David Smith, only for Bobbie Sayers to
deflect wide.

Beeding did level the scores after 23 minutes. Smith was brought down by
Harris in the box and Gary Salter converted the resultant spot kick with a
surprisingly tentative finish.

Heath Target man Andy Turner was being given a torrid time by the close
marking of Terry Gretton in a niggly initial period which saw the home side
conceded some 27 free kicks to the 23 of the visitors.

The move of the half came from Beeding. Mark Friend - James, his brother
Simon and Smith resulted in M. Friend - James's far post cross just eluding
Glyn Edmonds.

As sophisticated a that move was, it was the simplicity of Darren Jordan's'
ball over the top which caught the Heath defence defending far to high up
the field and, when the assistance referees flag remained firmly down, there
was no way any one could live with the blistering pace and finish of young
Joe Bennett as he slipped the ball under the advancing Chris Turner with 28
minutes gone.

Smith was booked for an aggressive tackle on Turner, and Martin Smith should
have done better than head over Derek Elphicks' corner in the last minute of
the half.

The second half started brightly for the Home side with Barker interchanging
with Smith but couldn't finish when Bennett delivered the final cross.

Beeding extended their lead on sixty minutes. Smith again received from
Barker and found Edmonds on the right. The wing backs surging run ended
with a fierce shot which Turner could only parry into the path of defender
Lewis Wright who could do little but dispair as the ball nestled in the back
of the net.

Heath Manager Ken Swallow showed a good deal of courage switching to a 4-3-3
formation. It wasn't long before it paid dividends. Burgess gave away a free
kick just outside the box in yet another tussle with Elphick. Elphick
delivered into the box and Harris made amends for his penalty give-away
beating Parsons to the ball and scoring with a neat flick header.

Beeding replaced Bennett with Lee Strange and Barker with Stuart Barry late
on as Heaths' attempts to find an equaliser made them vulnerable to the
counter punch. Whilst they did not give Parsons any cause for worry, a
warning came when Edmonds broke up play and fed Strange. If it hadn't his
first start, the Beeding top goalscorer from last year may well have doe a
lot better than to blaze the ball well over with just Turner to beat.

In the last minute Strange was unceremoniously dumped to the ground by
Sayers, wide on the left some thirty odd yards out. Mark Friend - James
strode up and planted the ball firmly in to the far bottom corner of the
net.

Upper Beeding: S. Redfern; D. Jordan, T. Gretton, G. Salter; G. Edmonds, S.
Friend - James, J. Burgess, P. Barker, M. Friend - James; J. Bennett, D.
Smith.

Subs: L. Strange (Bennett 60")
S. Barry (Barker77")
G. Dutton (n.u.)