A debut for Harry Rowland in defence, with newcomers Marlon Campbell and Matthias Rose named on the bench. The Lingers made a bright start as in the opening minutes Deven Reid-Solanki had a shot from distance. On five minutes Jack McDonnell had a break down the right, squared the ball, and Matt Cheeseman, slightly off balance, could not get a clean shot away. Reid-Solanki was into the box on the right for a shot that bounced off the keeper. Haywards Heath responded with a break down the left, cutting inside for a shot wide of the left post. On ten minutes, however, Jeff Duah-Kessie collected the ball on the right edge of the box, created half a yard and wrong-footed the keeper with a low shot inside the near post. An early 1-0 lead for The Lingers and not the start the home crowd expected. A couple of minutes later from a long throw into our box, Haywards Heath hit the bar and, from the rebound, had the ball in the net. We are saved by the offside flag. The home side were targetting our left flank and getting some joy, but some great defensive work by Conor Wilford stopped an attack, and even won a throw in.

From a corner on the right on 18mins, the loose ball came to Cheeseman to then feed the ball to Duah-Kessie. His shot is blocked, but the ball comes to Cheeseman to send a shot over the bar. Louie Staussi was making his second start between the posts after an uneventful game at Eastbourne United, and was into the action with a dash out from his area to clear a long ball midway in our half. Just past twenty minutes and Reid-Solanki linked with Duah-Kessie to create an opening, but Haywards Heath cleared the ball. Five minutes later Staussi pulled off his first save as he made a great block of a shot from inside the box. The home side delivered another long throw into the box but we defended it well, with Duah-Kessie gathering the loose ball on our right wing, and holding off challenges to win a throw. With the half hour approaching, David Heaton was there to take a clearance from our box and play it out to the left for Tyler Hargreaves to run onto. He delivered a cross into the box that went right through with a deflection out for a throw on the right. The ball was back into the box and Armani Morris fizzed a shot just over the left end of the bar that was so close to a second goal.

We were happy to have lasted over half an hour in the lead but on 32mins another Haywards Heath attack down the right brought a cross into the box, which was swept home for the equaliser. It got worse two minutes later when failure to clear a corner from the right resulted in a second goal for the home side. We cleared another corner from the right minutes later, but Haywards Heath recycled the ball and crossed it in again for a header that went over the bar. Harry Rowland was on the spot to block as the home side were turning the screw with the half coming to an end. With a couple of minutes to go McDonnell put in a superb tackle in the box with no margin for error, while Jaiden Chang was there to block the follow up shot. In the final minute of the half, as we looked to hang on to being a goal behind, Haywards Heath were still attacking down the right but their final shot went behind. Into added time and, in the second minute, a cross from the right was met with an overhead kick and it was 3-1 to Haywards Heath.

Our goalscorer, and spearhead, Duah-Kessie had taken a hit and ended the first half hobbling. He was replaced at half time along with Morris, so it was debuts for Marlon Campbell and Matthias Rose. With just three minutes of the half played, Haywards Heath pushed down the right, cut into the centre, and fired a shot inside the left post to go 4-1 up. Two minutes later they broke clear of our defensive line and were into our box. Rowland tried hard to get in a challenge while Staussi was out to block, but the ball broke in the home side's favour and it was 5-1. The pain was not over yet as another Haywards Heath attack down the right two minutes later brought them goal number six. The challenge for the lads now was to stop it getting really ugly as the loss of Duah-Kessie had affected our shape.

Just short of the hour, Heaton battled well to win the ball in midfield and was able to set Campbell away on a run only for Haywards Heath to track back and tackle. On the other side of the hour, Rose was into the action with a header to defend a ball into our box. On 63mins Hargreaves was replaced by Reece Jacobs. Two great saves by Staussi in five minutes kept the score down with Wilford on hand to clear the ball after the first save. Wilford was hurt in a challenge and on 73mins was withdrawn along with Heaton bringing Kai Neil-Gray and Noah Estrada into the action from the bench. With the result not in doubt, and with a string of changes, the home side eased off a bit. We managed to create a few openings in the final ten minutes starting with a drive into the box by Reid-Solanki. He was tackled but the loose ball was picked up by Campbell, who took the ball into the box, and hit a cross-cum-shot that worked the keeper. With three minutes remaining Reid-Solanki pushed into the box on the left and won a corner. The corner was cleared and came out to Reid-Solanki for a shot that went over the bar. Neil-Gray and Campbell were able to combine on on the left to break into the box, with Campbell's shot to drawing a save from the keeper. Into added time and one more bit of excellent keeping by Staussi in the third added minute saw him come off his line, spread himself to block a shot and see the match end at 6-1.

Haywards Heath Town have lost in the opening rounds of the FA Cup and the Peter Bentley Cup but have won every other game they have played. They are still in both Sussex Cups, will host Berks County next month in the Third Round of the FA Vase, and are runaway leaders of our league. With all that in mind, it was a tough ask for us to go there and become the first team to take any points off them, but we made a good start and, having shipped three goals in four minutes at the start of the second half as our changes bedded in, fought back to avoid it becoming a humiliation.

As it happens, two of the teams below us were on the wrong end of some high scoring. Lancing lost 9-0 at Eastbourne United while Horsham YMCA won 10-2 over a Shoreham side under their third manager this season, and AFC Varndeanians lost 5-1 at home to Roffey. The Lingers remain seventeenth in an unchanged bottom four and with the better goal difference. Two points above us are next Saturday's opponents Midhurst & Easebourne, who along with Guernsey sat out this round of matches giving them a game in hand on us. A point further up are our neighbours Crawley Down Gatwick, with a game in hand against Guernsey as well, who lost to a Steyning Town side that have moved into second place in the table six points behind Haywards Heath Town but having played a game more. Out of interest, a year ago The Lingers were in eighteenth place but with the same eleven points as we have now. This season we have won more, drawn less and lost more but ahead of us last season were the heavy defeats by Roffey and Hassocks such that a month later we still had eleven points.