Burgess Hill Town 2 Whyteleafe 0

Ryman League Division 1 South
Saturday 1st March 2008

Whyteleafe never really looked like finding the net in this match and several players even struggled to find the ground. To add to manager Dave Swindlehurst's selection problems, with captain Ali Reeve suspended and keeper Rob Tolfrey injured, two players found the Leylands Park ground only after the match had kicked off.

Burgess Hill is not a happy hunting ground for 'Leafe at the best of times and with a depleted squad, playing into a blustery wind and up a noticeable slope, it soon became obvious they weren't going to offer a great deal of early resistance to the Hillians' ambition of leap-frogging them in the league table.

Only twelve minutes had passed when Steve Harper found himself in space and with time to play the ball comfortably past 'Leafe's onrushing stand-in keeper Gavin Dilley.

Whyteleafe showed little in the way of attacking football and shots from Callum Maclean and Sam Clayton caused no problems for the home keeper Chris May.

At the other end however Matt Piper came desperately close to extending his side's lead, crashing the ball against the post on the half hour.  But Burgess Hill only had to wait a further three minutes to get the reward for their pressure when Tom Edmonds was left free to head home from a corner.

On 37 minutes Chris O'Flaherty and Callum Maclean made a complete hash of a set-piece free-kick which turned attack into defence with remarkable efficiency.  O'Flaherty however very nearly redeemed himself five minutes later with a free-kick which whistled just inches over the host team's bar.

Despite enjoying the wind and slope advantage in the second half, matters improve little for the visitors. 

Substitute Joel Greaves managed to find himself clear of the defence on 57 minutes but May did well to smother his shot. Sean Rivers and Moses Spencer both saw long distance shots clear the Hillians' crossbar but despite a lot of huffing and puffing from their guests, Burgess Hill looked very comfortable with their lead by the end of the game.

Swindlehurst now looks forward to two very tricky looking home fixtures against Tooting and Cray respectively and his team will need to work very hard to salvage any form of play-off aspiration.

Whyteleafe: Dilley, Boxall, Hackett, Spencer, Broomhead, Maclean, Platel, Smith, Rivers, Clayton, O'Flaherty. Subs: Jabbie, Greaves, Causon.