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It was a scorcher of a day at Burgess Hill, and the crowd of 300 plus particularly enjoyed the pre-game spectacle of the Town Crier announcing the game on the pitch. The Head to Head suggested this would be a close game despite Burgess Hill's decent pre-season record. Both teams started pretty brightly. Gary Sayer showed a willingness to drive forward from the left back position whilst at the same time having to mark the biggest No.7 I have ever seen in the shape of Cotton. He created a good chance in the opening minutes, only for Stuart Vahid's first touch to let him down.

Gary Sayer has the beating of Cotton

The team in yellow had the first real chance of the game on 

8 minutes. Fewell seemed to react slowly to an unexpected shot, 

but this was the only time his concentration let him down for 

what was otherwise an excellent performance for the keeper on his 

151st appearance for the club. 

Another notable observation was the good communication between 

the Oystermen, with skipper Sam Denly setting the example by 

continuously chatting to the players around him.

 

Whitstable played some neat, short-passing and attacking football during the opening exchanges. Hossick managed to dispatch a weak shot straight at the keeper on 12 minutes and Dan Dolton shot wide a minute later.

 

An Elmes sandwich

Dan Dolton down the wing 

Four minutes later, Dolton was obstructed by the 

hillian defence and Cornhill whipped in a low free kick 

to which everyone reacted slowly apart from Vahid who 

burst through to meet it down low only to contrive to put 

the ball over the bar from about 6 yards. 

It was difficult to execute a better shot on the stretch and he 

should not be criticised for that.

 

 

Vahid puts it just over the bar 

 

Two minutes later, Dolton whipped in a free kick

from the right hand side which Vahid met with his head,

and this time the ball found the back of the net. 

 

 

The response from Burgess hill was to get a bit physical.

This was borne out of a bit of frustration but also,

perhaps, in response to some hard but fair tackling from

the Oystermen. Hossick fired high and wide

on 26 minutes after having too much time to think about

his shot, and this was shortly followed by a fantastic fingertip

save from Wonderfewell after their tricky No.11 started

switching flanks and creating the Burgess Hill play.

On 29 minutes, Curd fired wide after Hossie put him under

good pressure.

 

The balance of play was tipping definitively Burgess Hill's way 

as they camped out in the Whitstable final third. A header over 

on 32 minutes was followed three minutes later by a 

goal-line clearance from Greg Smith as Fewell was 

well-beaten and stranded in the middle of the goal. 

 

 

The hillians 

continued their onslaught, playing some neat one-two 

football with both Lansdale and Barnard making 

space for themselves in the final third. Whitstable's response 

was characterised by some panicked play with more than 

one ball being hoofed anywhere.

 

 

Whitstable did make it into the Burgess Hill final third 

once more before the end of the half when Vahid's 

neat first touch saw him spin free from his marker, 

but his hurried shot from distance went high and wide. 

Burgess Hill got the last chance of the half on 45 

minutes after a long ball fell to Cotton whose shot was 

tipped around for a corner by Fewell. 

Burgess Hill were out early for the second half, no doubt 

having been told to carry on what they were doing. 

Their No.11 launched a snap shot five minutes into the 

second half causing yet another good save from Fewelly. 

The passage of play then became quite frenetic and for a 

short while end to end stuff. Burgess Hill put one wide 

on 57 minutes after a good break down the right hand 

flank and Vahid headed wide two minutes later. Good 

play between Elmes and Vahid saw Gess receive the 

ball on 63 minutes, but he too shot just wide.

Munday took Vahid and Gess off who were replaced by 

Wisker and Parker. Perhaps the idea was to protect the lead, 

but the passing became a little more sloppy although 

Wisker came very close with a backwards looping header 

on 78 minutes. Elmes was half a yard off the rebound.

Burgess Hill thought they had scored a minute before time, 

but it seems that Fewell kept the ball in play. When Burgess 

Hill got the ball back, Cotton put it into the side netting.

 

 

Whitstable held out and just about deserved the three points, 

although they will need to up their game against future opposition. 

A good start to the season but despite the head to head form 
against Croydon, Wednesday night will be tough against a revamped Athletic side. 

 

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