It was a chilly Tuesday night as we welcomed Midhurst & Eastbourne to The Lair. The game started slowly, with only a few clear-cut chances for either side, but it was to be the home side that ultimately struck first. TJ Stead made a powerful run down the left flank, the first of many, before hitting a low cross across the box to Kerran Boylan, who had plenty of time to finish calmly.

Less than ten minutes later the pair combined again, this time rattling the post, before disaster struck for the team. Despite the team’s dominant play, Harry Banks managed to pick up two yellow cards in three minutes to earn himself an early bath, to the protests of his teammates and supporters. This didn’t seem to bother the Lingers much though, as a succession of great chances followed before Christian Londoño ran through, seeing his first effort saved before calmly dispatching the rebound.

Just three minutes after that the Lingers put themselves three up, with captain Sam Cockerill bundling home a loose ball before the half-time whistle went. As the teams returned after the break Lingfield’s dominance continued, but it took almost half an hour for the hosts to score again. A spectacular ball from TJ Stead found his favourite collaborator Kerran Boylan, who took his time to curl the ball around the onrushing keeper and bag the Linger’s fourth.

Barely 5 minutes after the fourth goal the pair combined again, with TJ Stead’s cross finding the onrushing Kerran Boylan to gift the striker his hat-trick, and give the full back another brilliant assist.

The unbelievable performance from the 10 men of Lingfield was capped off by Midhurst going down to 10 men themselves, as their keeper blocked Christian Londoño’s efforts with his hands outside the area. His defender begrudgingly took his gloves but could do little to prevent Matthew Gates from blasting in the free kick, confirming the Linger’s memorable victory.

By Sam Freebody