East Preston hasn't been a kind fixture for Peacehaven Reserves recently. The two sides have met 3 times in Cup competitions over the last couple of years, and Peacehaven have always lost. They managed to lay that ghost to rest today in impressive style at a very blustery Piddinghoe Avenue, and so add some hope to their push to beat the drop.

Callum Wiltshire and Jack Loraine returned to the side this week, replacing the injured Caretaker Player-Manager Michael Page and Tom Stutters, who started on the bench.

The conditions made it hard for either side to take a hold of the game, but Peacehaven's first chance came after 10 minutes. A long shot from Jack Loraine was tipped over by Fernando Cunha in the East Preston goal, and from the resulting corner Aaron Birch's header went agonisingly close.

East Preston always looked dangerous on the counter attack, and Max Le Jeune nearly broke the deadlock midway through the first half whilst at the other end, as we approached half-time another long range effort from Jack Loraine produced a top-class save from Cunha.

After a goalless first half, the game sprung to life immediately after the break. An East Preston corner was only half cleared, and Guy Church thundered the ball into the 6 yard box, and despite being saved by Simon Parsons, was adjudged to have crossed the line for a goal.

Given their recent bad luck it would've been easy for Peacehaven's heads to have dropped, but their response was instant. Joe Spencer's clever pass unlocked the away defence, and Darren Wall ran through to smash the ball past Cunha to level the scores.

Four minutes later the same combination nearly put Peacehaven ahead. This time it was Wall who picked out Spencer but he was unable to finish with only the keeper to beat.

It wasn't long before Peacehaven were in front though. Jake Powell's ball down the line found Darren Wall who, after beating his defender, cut into the box and saw his low drive somehow squeeze between the keeper and the post for his second goal.

East Preston's counter-attacks continued to pose a threat, but the home defence was faultless in it's timing and the frustration grew for the visitors as they were continually unable to beat the offside trap.

With 10 minutes remaining, Peacehaven sealed the points when Jack Loraine's free-kick was parried out by Cunha in the East Preston goal. Darren Wall fired the ball into a cluster of players, and it fell perfectly for Jake Powell in the 6 yard box who fired in from close range.

In the dying seconds East Preston had a glorious chance to reduce the deficit when Le Jeune found himself with only the stranded Simon Parsons to beat, but his shot sailed harmlessly over the bar - which just about summed up East Preston's afternoon.

Despite the win, Peacehaven remain second from bottom, but are now only 3 points off 8th place and will be hoping to build on this encouraging performance over the coming weeks.

Report by
Keith Parris

Saturday 5th February 2011.   Reserve Section (Premier) Peacehaven & Tels. Res. 3 - 1 East Preston Res. Simon Parsons 1 Fernando Cunha Chris Barton 2 Liam Da Costa Sean Caffrey 3 Ashley Minter  65 Callum Wiltshire 4 Kevin Ware    Jon Miller  60 5 Lee Thompson Aaron Birch 6 Doug Paddick Sam Wells 71 7 Ross Fraser Jake Powell  79   8 Max Le Jeune Darren Wall  48   63   9 Matt Wilson     Jack Loraine  85   10 Oly Eke  52 Joe Spencer 86 11 Guy Church  47   71   Substitutes Matt Lago  71 12 Sean Davies  52 Tom Stutters  60 14 Chad Milner  65   85   Matt Rozzier 86 15 James Price   16 Alf Boylen   17           Peacehaven Man Of The Match Chris Barton