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| Wednesday 16 April 2003 Balcombe II 3 East Court FC 5 FOUR goals from Ross Kelly helped East Court FC secure the Mid Sussex Football league division 7 championship with victory over Balcombe II. In the first half hour of the match on Wednesday night last week (April 16) East Court, with captain Simon Nickols back in the side after injury, played some of their best football of the season and raced into a four goal lead. Kelly ran down the right wing and crossed the ball into the box for Ben Sunderland, who flicked the ball into the path of Billy Denyer and he made no mistake from 10 yards. A second goal followed when a throw from James Salter bounced in the box and Kelly stabbed home from six yards. A blatent handball from a Balcombe player following a Sunderland corner gave East Court a penalty and Kelly slotted home the spot-kick. Sunderland nearly got on the score-sheet himself but his shot was well saved by the Balcombe keeper. Kelly grabbed his hat trick when his 20 yard left foot shot took a wicked deflection and flew past the Balcombe keeper. But then the home side woke up and got a penalty themselves after East Court keeper Paul Bishop pushed a shot onto the post but was adjudged to have brought down the Balcombe player in the process. Although Bishop went the right way he could not get to the spot kick. Balcombe scored again from a corner and just before half-time nearly grabbed a third but a combination of Bishop and Andy Wright deflected the ball onto the bar and the danger was cleared. In the second half there were more chances and with Balcombe needing a win to have a chance of promotion they pushed forward in search of goals. But it was the away side who had the best opportunities and even defenders player-manager Daniel Medcalf, Tom Greig and Nick Palmer joined in the East Court attack. East Court got an-all-important fifth when a throw from the left found Kelly and he outmuscled a Balcombe defender and hit a superb right foot volley into the corner of the net. Balcombe scored again from another corner in the final few minutes but East Court grabbed a deserve win to add the division 7 championship to the Malins Cup and complete a historic double for the team who are enjoying their first season of competitive football. Team: P.Bishop, A.Wright, C.Buckler, T.Greig (M.Bishop), D.Medcalf, N.Palmer, S.Nickols, B.Denyer, R.Kelly, B.Sunderland, J.Salter. Unused Subs: N.Dawson, J.Nickols |