Lions lash Langney: Pagham go third in league

Almost all Pagham’s first half chances seemed to come from corners as Jack Williamson, Ben Clark-Eden and Tom Atkinson all had headers pushed over the bar and Jared Rance, Callum Chalmers and Ryan Hallett had shots saved or go wide.

The best chance before the break was when Williamson did manage to get a header into the net only to see it disallowed for a push. Langney didn’t really create much in the way of chances despite having reasonable amounts of possession.

The Lions looked much more dangerous as the second half kicked off and George Bingham was unlucky to see a 25 yard blast pushed just wide. On 55 minutes sub Sam Connolly had a shot parried by the keeper who was then fortunate to smother the ball as Chalmers raced in.

The first goal finally came on 62 minutes when Rance was brought down in the box but got up to smash the ball home from the spot. With a tiny bit of breathing room now, the Lions started knocking the ball around in their best spell of the game.

Pagham v Langney in pictures by Roger Smith.

It was rewarded with a candidate for goal of the season when full-back Ryan Hallett collected the ball just over the halfway line and crashed it home into the bottom corner of the goal in the 68th minute.

Seven minutes later and a Joe Bennett cross from the left somehow found its way past everyone and dropped into the far corner for 3-0. To round things off nicely for the Lions, Rance was brought down once again in the box in the final minute, and David Crouch stroked the ball home to finish the scoring at 4-0.

Lions boss LKerry Hardwell said: "This was another fantastic three points in what was a mature second half performance from the boys. I was delighted to get our first clean sheet from the last lockdown and the boys at the back and Connor really deserved it.

"We said at half-time to the boys that if we keep a clean sheet we will win the game as I knew the attacking boys would produce goals. Langney were excellent first half - they really did frustrate us for a good 35 minutes - and it’s a real credit to our boys this season that teams are now coming to Pagham to try not to get beaten.

"It’s been a massive change-around from last year and everyone at the club is still looking to improve where we can. Four second half goals got us the deserved win from Jared, Joe and Dave - and the pick of them for me was Ryan Hallett's goal, a great strike from 30-35 yards to top off a man of the match performance.

"We now concentrate this week with two training sessions and working towards Boxing Day's game against East Preston. I hope to see a big crowd Boxing Day if the government lets us! Merry Christmas everyone."

Pagham: Conor Kelly, Tom Atkinson, Ryan Hallett, George Bingham, Jack Williamson, Ben Clark-Eden, Jared Rance, Jack Barnes (Sam Connolly), Callum Chalmers (David Crouch), Ollie Hambleton (Joe Clarke) & Joe Bennett. Subs not used: Dylan Jelley & Grant Radmore.