Aarran and I are really proud of the lads today winning a hard fought, tough match against a very capable Burgess Hill team.

This win sees us progress to the Quarter Finals where we’ll meet Eastbourne Borough at home at Woodside Road! We both thought we played some of our best football so far this season today, particularly in the first half. I think it’s fair to say that we were much the better team and the score line flattered Burgess Hill.

What was fantastic was seeing much of what we have been practising at training being executed in the match. Our midfield played some great balls into our strikers and also over the top of Burgess Hill’s back line into pockets of space which allowed our strikers to get in on goal.

We switched the play really well when you saw the opportunities and our passing/movement was on the whole pretty crisp. What was excellent though was the players reaction and desire to win the ball back when we didn’t have it and our defending at times was superb – a marked improvement from our earlier matches!

We coped really well with the strong physicality of the match (which saw both Danny and Joe get studded by some nasty play on their part) and we never backed off of a challenge or allowed Burgess Hill to boss the game. I also thought the boys looked very composed playing out from the back and our formation with 3 at the back and 2 wing backs worked very well.

We had plenty of opportunities to put the game to bed but didn’t take these chances and we were also unlucky when we hit the cross bar once again. Our goals were awesome today, Jamie Hurst’s was a great finish after a lovely bit of play (great passing, switching the play and then having Jamie put through in on goal – straight from the training ground!) and Ryan’s goal was another superb finish into the far corner having been put through from our midfield.

There are areas that we need to improve on, the main one being able to deal with long balls better, we must put a loud name on it so we don’t have two players challenging for the same ball and also be better at picking up second balls when we do attack it. Our finishing must also be better as we did squander a number of chances today.

Overall, a fantastic performance and one which highlighted the improvement the lads are making from our training sessions!!