Late Lingers rally to claim all three points

Despite a high intensity warm up, the Lingers were slow to get started and fell behind in the first 5 minutes. The referee pointed to the spot as Marc McEvilly was adjudged to have fouled his man. A harsh decision but the Southwick player made no mistake, firing his penalty into the top corner.

For the rest of the half, the Lingers dominated the game, controlling the vast majority of possession. Efforts from Matt Burroughs and Dan Frith, who clipped the crossbar, were the closest the away side came to finding the equaliser in the first half.

HT Southwick 1-0 Lingfield

The second period started off much like the first with Southwick defending in numbers and frustrating the Lingers to half chances. Mark Barnard was introduced in the 60th minute and his energy revitalised the Lingers. The patience finally paid off with around 20 minutes to go when Brett Caiger was clippedby the on-rushing keeper giving the Lingers a chance to equalise from the spot. David Heaton cooly obliged tucking his penalty into the bottom corner of the net.

The Lingers looked a lot more dangerous, helped by the hosts being reduced to ten men after the Southwick left back lashed out at Brett Caiger. The winner came in the final 10 minutes when Dan Frith fired in an unstoppable free kick from the edge of the box into the top corner. Jubilant scenes followed for the away side who had had to show patience and determination to crack down the home side. The Lingers saw out the game and a further Southwick player was shown his marching orders after a string of bad tackles.

The Lingers travel to St Francis Rangers on Tuesday night looking to show the same sort of character to really get their league campaign off to a positive start.

FT - Southwick 1-2 Lingfield

MOM - Mark Barnard

By David Heaton
Photos By Mike Moore