Loxwood told to 'keep plugging away' after Lingfield win sees them out of the drop zone

Tim Bennett’s second-half goal was enough to secure the three points for the Magpies and, crucially, move them out of the relegation places.

Loxwood were the beneficiaries of results going in their favour, as bottom-side Eastbourne United beat fourth-from-bottom Shoreham, while fellow relegation battlers Little Common and Arundel played out a draw.

The Magpies now sit in 16th, three places above the drop, but the bottom-six are separated by just six points.

Walsh said: “We defended a lot better. We conceded six against Pagham, three against Hassocks, so it was really nice to get a clean-sheet.

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“It was a gutsy performance from the boys. I’m pleased to get the three points and the performance in the second-half was really good.

“You do look at the other results but we know what we need to achieve. If we can do what we need to do then other results shouldn’t be a factor.

“We’re going to keep plugging away at getting to our target.”

Lingfield’s Jake Horn and the Magpies’ Ash Mutongerwa and Mark Goldson spurned early chances as all three sent their attempts high and wide.

The host’s best chance came on 18 minutes. A swift Lingers breakaway saw Ben Connolly played in on goal but his strike was beaten away by Liam Matthews.

On 26 minutes Loxwood’s Jason Dawson got behind the Lingfield defence but he skewed his shot wide.

Lewis Broughton’s corner eight minutes later met the head of skipper Hugo Cowan but home ‘keeper Dan Burnett did well to save with his foot.

15 minutes into the second-half, Lingfield’s Lorenzo Lewis was sent-off and within two minutes the visitors were ahead.

Burnett did well to deny Goldson but poor Lingers defending from the resulting corner saw Bennett poke home.

Although down to ten, the hosts saw a lot of the ball but never created anything clear-cut.

The host’s chance to level came on 94 minutes but Sam Clements blazed his attempt over the bar.

Walsh added: “Footballing-wise Lingfield were one of the best teams that I’ve seen.

“I think they did dominate possession so we had to react to that and make sure we could defend and try and hit them on the counter, and that’s where we looked most dangerous.

“Every time we went forward we created good opportunities and that worked for us on Saturday.”

The Magpies host Newhaven on Saturday.

Loxwood: Matthews, Dawson, Broughton, French (Williams 76), Boiling, Courtney, Foella, Cowan, Goldson (Ogunrinde 86), Mutongerwa (Spranger 73), Bennett.