Hillians hail their Hitman: Burgess Hill benefit as Perry pops up

Burgess Hill Town’s management and fans had high hopes for striker Dan Perry when he was brought back to the club in the summer.

And so far he has lived up to his reputation superbly – with 13 goals to his name already and the halfway point of the season not yet reached.

Perry has scored eight goals in the past eight games, including two doubles, the latest of which put Hill on their way to a fine 4-2 midweek Isthmian south east division victory at Sheppey.

Sam Remfry also scored twice in the win at Sheppey, in which Jay Lovett’s men were 3-0 up at the break before withstanding a hosts’ comeback and clinching the points with a late fourth.

You have to go back to August to find the last time Hill lost a league game on the road, and only their home form has stopped them sitting any higher than their present position of ninth.

Lovett will have been delighted with the win at Sheppey, which followed a 2-1 home loss to VCD last Saturday, in which, you guessed it, Perry scored the Hillians’ goal.

He takes them on the road again this Saturday – to Beckenham.

Meanwhile Haywards Heath Town’s struggles continued with a 4-0 defeat at second-placed Ashford.

The Blues have slipped to 18th in the table and will be keen to start climbing again soon.

They host Hythe Town, who are only three points above them in the Isthmian south east, on Saturday.

Boss Jay Lovett is pleased with the team’s progress – and delighted with Perry’s recent goal return. He told us: “The game at Sheppey saw us get back to playing like we should against another good side and pick ourselves up and important win.

"We moved the ball around nicely, every player to a man worked on and off the ball and pulled together as a team when needed to ride out a little bit of pressure Sheppy threw at us in the second half.

"It was very pleasing to get the goals we scored as that has been a long time coming. We've said to each other we need to be a little more ruthless and clinical, when as a team we create so much and the final detail on the ball completed the moves.

"This I believe was the big difference to our game when we lost 2-1 on Saturday against VCD at home. We had some good chances early on, then got caught with a longer ball.

"We worked well after half time to get ourselves back into the game and scored another good goal from Dan Perry, who is in fine form (13 for the season and seven in the league) slotted home after Ashley Elson was introduced.

"At this point the momentum was with us, so it was frustrating that we gave away a short back pass that led to a penalty given and they scored from it..

“We have a little injury list at the moment building up, so we hope these boys recover soon and having a couple back yesterday, really complimented the side and helps build moral. We hope we can continue pushing forward, build on consistency and play like we did at Sheppey as I was very proud of how they played.”