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| Saturday 30 October 2004 Lingfield III 1 East Court FC 2 Two late goals from Billy Denyer gave East Court FC all the points in an exciting and competitive local derby on Saturday. The first half was a cagey affair with few clear goalscoring opportunities. Nick Clarkson-Tooze went close for the away side with an angled shot which the Lingfield keeper turned around the far post, and midfielder Nick Palmer was extremely unlucky to see his clever flick from a Paul Brice corner cannon back off the crossbar. The home team took the lead shortly before half-time when a dangerous ball was swung in from the left wing and a Lingfield forward slid it past the onrushing Paul Bishop. It was the first goal that East Court had conceded in over 200 minutes of football. East Court changed to a 3-5-2 formation at the start of the second half and started to win more loose balls in central midfield. Captain Simon Nickols put in some excellent tackles and, along with Palmer, Andrew Wright, Carl Buckler and Dan Medcalf drove the away team forward. The central defensive unit of Medcalf, Adam Shillibeer and Tom Greig, who was later replaced by James Crittell, repelled everything that Lingfield threw at them. In goal, Bishop confidently caught a couple of dangerous crosses. Despite dominating the second period, East Court could not break down the home defence and had the woodwork to thank when a Lingfield player should have wrapped up the game but hit the post from 6 yards out. With 10 minutes of the match remaining, East Court finally equalised. Buckler picked up the ball on the left flank and fed a nice pass into Denyer who controlled it and fired an unstoppable 25 yard shot into the net via the underside of the crossbar. Court pressed for the winner and were deservedly rewarded just minutes later when a good midfield move resulted in Brice picking up the ball on the left wing. His pin point cross found the head of Denyer who diverted the ball past the keeper and into the roof of the net. Lingfield tried to respond but were not able to equalise, and East Court picked up the victory which keeps them top of Mid Sussex League Division 5. Team: P.Bishop, A.Wright, T.Greig (Ja.Crittell), N.Palmer, D.Medcalf, A.Shillibeer, S.Nickols, B.Denyer, P.Brice, N.Clarkson-Tooze, C.Buckler. Unused Sub: C.Butler |