Golds leave it late but progress in cup

All the goals came in the 3-1 win, came in last 20 minutes as Golds progressed past their fellow County League Division 2 opposition to set up a home tie with division-higher Hassocks in the quarter-finals.

The game beat the weather to go ahead as a number of County League matches were again postponed on Tuesday – as they also were on Saturday – owing to waterlogged pitches.

The opening goal came on 70 minutes when Golds left-back Mitchell Hand scored from the penalty spot, converting after a Cameron McClymont foul.

Southwick substitute Jordan Saunders then won a penalty within minutes of being on the pitch and Idriz Adedoja scored against his former club – as he had done in Wickers’ 2-1 home league defeat to Golds in August – equalising from the spot with seven minutes left.

Wickers were level for just a minute, though, as Littlehampton went back ahead through central defender Josh Bates’ header from a corner.

Littlehampton then sealed the win on 86 minutes when Danny Hand netted, following good work by George Gaskin.

Golds boss Mark Bennett said: “To be fair, we should have wrapped it up earlier on and didn’t really take our chances. It’s like I said after the game to the boys, cup games are not all about the performance, but really about the result.”

On adding to his squad, Bennett added: “I’m working hard to try to bring in a couple more. Obviously, with all the postponements, we’ve got a lot of games coming up in a short amount of time.

“With injuries and suspensions, I do not want what happened last year to happen again.”