A month ago, Rye United were on the brink of an historic visit to Wembley in the FA Vase, and were one of the main contenders for the County League title - how times change!

Their Vase exploits ended at King's Lynn 3 Saturdays ago, and since then they have been playing 3 games a week to catch up on their fixture backlog. This game saw a tired looking home side slip to their third home defeat in 4 games over 7 days. Their title hopes are a distant memory now, but nothing should be taken away from Peacehaven over this result, as they completed a League "double" over their hosts in solid fashion.

Matt Hill returned to the side after missing Saturday's lack-luster performance at Wick, and Peacehaven took the initiative from the start. Craig Bunch will have felt he should have opened the scoring after 14 minutes when Rob O'Toole's pass opened up the defence but Bunch, having beaten the offside trap, had to watch as his goal-bound effort somehow squeezed past the post.

You sensed a goal was on the cards, and so it soon proved to be - though not in the way the first 20 minutes had suggested.

Joe Adams had done well to keep out a barrage of shots following a goalmouth scramble, but on 30 minutes the home side took the lead in trade-mark style. Liam Upton took the ball down to the bye-line and his cross found Danny Ellis on the back post to open the scoring. Rye where playing a more controlled game now, and the threat of Duncan McArthur combined with the pace of their wide players was beginning to test the visiting defence.

Peacehaven will have been frustrated at not converting one of their chances in the first half, but were on level terms soon after the restart - if in somewhat fortunate circumstances. A harmless back-pass bobbled cruelly as Pelling in the home goal attempted to clear upfield, and the ball looped up invitingly to Craig Bunch who gratefully lobbed the ball back over the stranded keeper.

Peacehaven had a renewed sense of urgency about them, and where rewarded midway through the second half. Ryan Bradley, who worked tirelessly out wide all evening, left the defence standing before putting in a perfect cross for Craig Bunch to head in unchallenged at the far post.

Rye always looked capable of equalising, and Saunders and Kneller where kept busy for the last quarter of the game dealing with a succession of searching balls into the box. By now though, it really was looking a laboured effort by the home side, and every time their attacks faltered Peacehaven surged forward looking to increase their lead.

For Rye there is still a lot to play for this season. They've reached the final of the John O'Hara League Cup, and have a mouth-watering Senior Cup tie with Eastbourne Borough on the horizon. For Peacehaven, defeated only once in their last 19 League games, their target remains the same.

"We want to finish as high in the table as we can", said Peter Edwards after the game. He was full of praise for the performance and added, "This was always going to be a hard game, and everyone had to be focused or we would have lost - it's that simple. Goals change games"

Report by
Keith Parris

Wednesday 23rd March 2011.   Sussex County League, Division 1. Rye United 1 - 2 Peacehaven & Telscombe Josh Pelling 1 Joe Adams Ben Radley 2 Craig Hall Sam Cole 3 Matt Hill Scott Ramsey 4 Adam Kneller  Jono Richardson 5 Connor Saunders Jack Dixon 6 Aaron Gunn  Danny Ellis  29 7 Clive Snell   87 Duncan McArthur  78 8 Ryan Bradley  82 Liam Upton   85 9 Craig Bunch  57   66 Danny Leach 10 Ashley Rees   80 Matty Maclean  62 11 Rob O'Toole Substitutes Marc Gall 12 Tom Levitt  80 Dominic Clarke  85 14 Scott Marshall  87 Paul Tupenney  62   82 15 James MacKenzie  82 Kele Buay 16 Joe Panther Joe Winchester 17 Josh Heyburn         Peacehaven Man Of The Match Connor Saunders