Match Report - Crowborough Athletic 1 - 0 Steyning Town

The second notable chance came again from winning the ball within the midfield, Lambden received the ball from a driving run forward by Forster, Lambden tried to tuck the ball away in the top right corner and was unlucky not to hit the target.

After a dominating first 20 minutes the break finally came, after a quick turnover in play the ball was played into Goldsmith who drove down the wing and floated a delivery towards Samuel-Smikle who was who beaten to the ball by the Steyning centre back, the ball then fell to Goldsmith who found Duncan on the top left corner of the box, Duncan whipped the ball with a first time finish placed into the bottom right of the goal.

Despite the initial dominance Steyning found their way back into the first half. The pace of the game began too slow which gave the visitors a spell of possession. Their first real chance came from a low quick cross which was played behind both of the centre backs with the Steyning striker somehow missing the target, although this was then given as offside. An identical run of play occurred moments later with again the Steyning striker still not managing to find the target. The half time whistle came at a good time for the hosts breaking the away teams period with the ball.

The game felt more controlled for Crowborough at the beginning of the second half, the away team had the greater share of possession but did not manage to produce any real moments of quality. Instead the real chances came to the hosts; the first coming from Samuel-Smikle collecting the ball from outside of the centre circle, driving forward who slipped in Forster who drove the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal, Forster did everything right and was unfortunate to hit the post, the next chance was was a one on one opportunity from Duncan who made a fantastic run to beat the offside trap, Duncan opted to to strike the ball early which was blocked by the Steyning keeper.

Steyning were reduced to ten men in the 78th minute after the linesman noticed the Steyning midfielder kicked out in frustration after a physical but fair battle with the ball.

However, the tale of the second half was an outstanding display from Holmwood. The Crowborough keeper was a fantastic presence within the box, particularly his decision making to come for crosses. His highlight of the game came within the final few moments when he came to punch a Steyning cross clear, then produced an instinctive reaction save seconds later. If that wasn’t enough within the same passage of the play a powerful shot was parried away to safety, Crowborough’s number one produced a moment of quality to keep his clean sheet and support the Crows to their first league win of the season.