Sorry St Francis licked by Lions - it’s 11-0

Here are the latest Lions reports from the Southern Combination premier division.

St Francis Rangers 0 Pagham 11

PAGHAM had a virtual walkover against a very weak St Francis side, whipping 11 goals past a team that have now conceded 44 in seven league matches this season.

The Saints were able to make a match of it early on, but once Dan Swain gave Pagham the lead, heads began to drop and by half-time it was 4-0 with Alex Kew, Rob Brown and Dan Simmonds adding to the score.

Again, during the initial part of the second half St Francis were able to contain their opponents. However, when Simmonds netted his second goal on the hour to make it 5-0, the floodgates burst completely and six further strikes followed in rapid succession.

The majority of the damage was caused from free-kicks and corners, with Saints’ veteran keeper Mark Oldroyd on a hiding to nothing as Simmonds added two more to bring his personal tally to four and Ryan Davidson, Lloyd Rowlatt (2) and Julian Boniface completed the rout.

Pagham boss Jon Tucker said: “It was just nice to get back to winning ways after a spell of defeats. Fair play to St Francis, they continued to try to play for 90 minutes.

“We knocked the ball around well and it was nice to get the goal difference up, but more pleasing for me was that we kept a clean sheet.

“In games like this, it is easy for James Binfield and the back four to switch off and concede.”

St Francis boss Dave Shearing was less than impressed with his team’s efforts, saying: “Some of the players don’t seem to listen. I have told them they would be leaving before me.

“The time has now come to get real – they have been lucky enough to have a chance to play at this level, but the commitment required is not there. At least nine of the goals were handed to Pagham on a plate.”

PAGHAM: Binfield, A Brown, Cox, Swain, Boniface, Davidson, Lewis, Rowlatt, R Brown, Simmonds, Kew. Subs: Cody, Martin.

CHESTER BROWTON

Pagham 1 Lancing 2

A last-gasp Lancing winner stoppped the Lions from getting what would have been a creditable draw.

With the Lancers top of the table, and the Lions’ form stuttering, it would have been no surprise had the visitors won convincingly.

They had to wait until the 11th minute before Richie Greenfield curled a shot past a stranded James Binfield. Dan Simmonds almost created an instant answer as he struck the post less than a minute later.

A disjointed game wasn’t helped by a multitude of stoppages and some strange bookings, starting with Pagham captain Dan Swain seeing yellow on 21 minutes.

Richie Greenfield might have doubled the Lions lead just before the half-hour, only for Binfield to pull off a tremendous stop to deny him.

Dan Martin had two chances to score himself just after the half-hour.

After the break, Rob Brown could have got one back for the Lions from a George Cody cross and O’Callaghan for the visitors bowed his head in shame with an awful miss on 52 minutes.

Simmonds’ persistence paid off on the hour as he hit the equaliser.

With more bookings, the game degenerated although Lancing looked the better side. When Pagham did attack, it was usually Simmonds at the forefront and he hit the woodwork on 68 minutes.

Dan Martin was replaced by Dan Kempson with 20 minutes to go and Lions boss Jon Tucker made a change.

Terrell Lewis shot across goal while Lancing then found second wind to force the Lions on the back foot. Just as the Lions thought they’d gained a point, Lancing sub Rance smashed home a shot in time added on.

PAGHAM: Binfield, A Brown, Warren, Swain, Boniface, Davidson, Lewis, Martin (Kempson 77), R Brown, Simmonds, Cody. Subs: Playre-Howard, Killiams, Ediker, Crouch.

LANCING: Fidler, Mills, Fenton, Bygraves, Spinks, Bowra, Williamson, Rouane, Eason, O’Callaghan, Greenfield. Subs: Sharman, Hendy, Spinks, Rance, Fair.

JON ROSE

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