Loxwood 3 Midhurst & Easebourne 2

A poor first half display saw them two goals behind after just 23 minutes through goals by Midhurst’s Miles Hamilton and Luke Sheldrick.

Tim Martin and Tom Lyons got the Magpies back on to level terms by half-time.

Martin then scored his second goal of the game with what proved to be the winning goal three minutes into the second half which earned Loxwood the three points.

Manager Dave Cocoracchio said: “This was one of our worst performances of the season. After a lack of games we have had two big ones in three days following on from a tough 4-3 win against Haywards Heath on Saturday. We were sluggish all over the park.

“We weren’t playing well and going two goals down forced us into a response.”

Matt Hoyte threaded a ball through for Martin who shot into the bottom corner to make it 2-1 on 28 minutes.

Shaun Finley supplied a corner to Tom Lyons who headed home Loxwood’s second on the stroke of half-time.

Martin scored Loxwood’s third soon after the break, receiving a pass from Ben Arthur, he cut inside from wide and slotted in a good finish.

Cocoracchio added: “It was a scrappy display ad we didn’t play good football. We didn’t really deserve to be level at half-time. But we clawed ourselves back into the game and took the lead and then held on to clinch the three points.”

Loxwood: Williams, Pett, Elkana, French, Elliott, Swaine (Scalley 60), Hoyte, Arthur (Cave 70), Lyons, Martin (Wright 75), Finlay. Unused sub: Holvey