COLEMAN CUTS THE MUSTARD AGAIN FOR THE LINGERS

Midfielder Coleman pulled the strings, spraying incisive passes as The Lingers made hard work of beating struggling City who had suffered a demoralising 7-0 league defeat at Littlehampton Town in midweek. A delighted Coleman received his man of the match bottle of champagne afterwards from club official David Groves.

Yet Dixie Dean’s side, still lacking an influential striker crucially, were pushed all the way by their lowly visitors who with better finishing might have produced a different outcome.

But this was a welcome return to winning ways for the fourth-placed village club, with the top five sides all winning as the title race hotted up.

Lingfield needed only six minutes to break the deadlock as lively left back Joel O’Hara opened his account for The Lingers in his fourth successive appearance, having made a major impact after signing from Three Bridges. O’Hara shot home from close range, giving goalkeeper Anthony Ender no chance after captain Gareth Graham’s free-kick had broken to him in the penalty area.

That dream start should have lit the blue touchpaper for the expected goal avalanche, particularly after Lingfield’s overwhelming performance in their 1-1 midweek draw at Shoreham.

But Chichester were clearly wounded by their own midweek misery and playing for pride and were not about to be rolled over, producing an admirably stubborn and determined display.

Lingfield failed to press home their first-half advantage, being unable to add sufficient width to their attacking game, with their lack of training and invention returning to haunt the hosts.

Chichester equalised after 27 minutes when midfielder Josh Case’s 25-yard free-kick curled inside the far post, beating keeper Dan Burnett who has been in impressive form recently.

It was the kick up the backside that the complacent Lingers deserved and boss Dean and his assistant Darren Maziere were left deep in earnest conversation on the pitch at half-time even after the players had entered the dressing room.

This was a worrying scenario, with victory essential against supposedly easier opponents, but thankfully lively Harry Sintim rescued the hosts by bursting through at the far post after 50 minutes and firing home the winner past Ender from close range.

The impressive Hidekazu Sato went closest to adding to The Lingers’ lead after 74 minutes, shooting into the side netting following his near post run.

Cue the inevitable frantic finale as Chichester carved out chances in vain and after five additional minutes played by impressive referee Barrie Small it was time to celebrate the latest Lingers’ success, despite finger nails being a little shorter.

By David Groves