Westfield cup win sets up derby

The local derby third round tie - the first meeting between the clubs since a drab Sussex Division Two Cup final won by Rye & Iden last year - is provisionally scheduled for December 1.

"We don't get any local derbies in the League (their Boxing Day match is against Seaford)," said Johnson. "So you hope to get drawn against teams like Rye and Sidley in the cup."

Anything less than qualification under the circumstances, though, would have been nothing short of an abject failure.

Westfield came out with all guns blazing and had already gone in front by the time Sussex Division Two adversaries Saltdean had two players and their manager sent-off around the half hour mark.

But instead of continuing in the same assertive and dominant vein Westfield became sloppy and the tie was very much alive until David Miller flashed home his first senior goal in the final minute.

Johnson commented: "We played very well when they had 11 players. We scored the goal and had plenty of chances but the sending off seemed to upset the momentum and we made hard work of it.

"I think we did become complacent. Our attitude changed a bit and we just didn't work as hard. You expect to get more goals easily but our final ball was letting us down and players were running offside. I think they fought much harder and they caused us a few problems in the second half. But it's hard to be too critical because we defended well and got the result in the end."

Which was the important thing. Duncan Jones beat the Saltdean goalkeeper to Peter Newstead's long kick following hesitation in the away defence after 18 minutes and the same player had a goal scrubbed off for offside while Dominic Clarke saw a header saved from six yards out during a one-sided opening quarter.

The complexion of the game changed, though, when an away striker was sent off for clocking an elbow on Chris Rea right in front of the linesman. Another United player, who had already been booked, took his protests too far and also got his marching orders, likewise his boss.

But Westfield were never the same from then on and, although Newstead was infrequently tested, it should have been far more straight-forward than it was.