Crawley Down Gatwick hold off Lingfield fightback to take derby spoils

Early goals from Benjamin Brooker and Sam Cane put the hosts in control at the Haven Centre, with Brooker adding a third on the stroke of half time.

Cane then bagged his second goal of the game on 52 minutes as the table-topping Anvils threatened to run riot, opening up a 4-0 lead with more than half an hour to play.

But Crawley Down Gatwick would not have been expecting the show of resilience from Lingfield that followed.

Kerran Boylan pulled a goal back for the visitors three minutes after Cane's strike, but it was 5-1 when David Houlders notched a goal on the hour mark.

Stephen Smith scored a second goal for Lingfield on 64 minutes to make it 5-2, but once again the Anvils restored their four-goal advantage on 75 minutes, with Luke Trotter finding the net for Paul Cooper's side.

However, Lingfield were not done yet and threatened an unlikely comeback after Boylan scored his second goal of the game, and David Heaton added a fourth goal for the visitors.

The Anvils held firm in the closing stages though to claim a thrilling 6-4 win, which keeps them top of the Southern Combination League Division One table, with 15 wins and two defeats from their 17 league games so far this season.

As such, the Anvils go into the new year with a six-point advantage over Haywards Heath Town in second place, although they have three games in hand on the Anvils.

Meanwhile, Lingfield are down in ninth with 26 points from 18 games.

Both teams are in action again on Saturday, with Lingfield at home to Mile Oak and Crawley Down Gatwick away at Saltdean United.

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