SIX YEARS ago Dave Matthews was the country’s top scorer and taking short corners for England, so Mid Sussex were much relieved to earn a 1-1 draw against his visiting Canterbury team on Saturday.

They started as if they feared the worst and the visitors went ahead with a scrappy goal after only three minutes. It was Matthews who scored it but not before his first shot was saved.

For the most part Mids centre back Dan Trigwell did enough to disrupt the Kent team’s attacks and whenever they did get through, James Myers pulled off the required save. But it was a testing 20 minutes for Middies and they did well to keep in touch before turning in a much-improved performance after the break.

Andy Kleine equalised from a short corner strike and Couves and Trigwell went close as Canterbury slipped away and Middies increasingly looked the more likely winners.

And with a minute to go Russell Selfe looked to have won it only for his rasping shot to clip the inside of the keeper’s foot.

It was a bad day at the office for St Francis as they crashed 5-0 to an up-and-coming Worthing side.

Saints were sloppy at the start and things did not improve appreciably during the match.

It was hardly the ideal preparation for this Saturday’s top-of-the-table clash with local rivals Mid Sussex.

They will need to bring a completely new attitude to the game that starts at St Paul’s at midday.

DIVISION 2 leaders Copthorne suffered only their second defeat of the season as second-placed Ditchling beat them 3-1 on Saturday.

Jack Ritchie’s early goal settled the hosts and they doubled their lead with an unstoppable 25-yarder by Ben Watkinson before Copthorne replied just before half time.

It made for a hard fought second half, with Copthorne directing waves of attacks at the home goal but being held by a strong defence.

Watkinson finally notched his second to make it safe in a sporting and entertaining match.

That leaves Ditchling still unbeaten in all competitions and with two cup finals to look forward to (Edgar German and Mowatt).

An understrength 2nds crashed 6-0 to strong Division 7 side Felbridge II in the Malins Cup semi finals.

Polegate Town returned to action by beating promotion-chasing Furnace Green Galaxy 6-2 away in the Championship.

Conditions made it a scrappy affair in the first half but Town led 2-1 at the break thanks to two goals from an unusual source of defensive midfielder Chris Jackson.

Galaxy equalised early in the second half but in the end Polegate could have ended with far more than those that came from Mark Davis (pen), full back Liam Brooks (his 1st of season), and James McConnell (2).

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The Weald’s Peter Molloy emerged top male player at the Pavilion and Avenue junior open.

The competition is one of the regional tour events and on Friday Molloy walked away with the boys 16/u and 18/u titles to make it one of the best weeks in his relatively young career. He will be hoping it provides the springboard for regular competition on the national tour.

Molloy, seeded No 4 in the younger age group, opened with a couple of easy victories before having to dig deep in beating West Worthing’s Ben Horton in the quarter finals.

That set up a semi final against former county team-mate Logan Burgess Hayes and it proved a real test of Molloy’s mental toughness before he came through in three tough sets 6-4, 6-7 and 10-6 in the champions tie break.

Prior to the final against another former county team-mate, Preston’s Sam Rice the No 3 seed, Molloy was blazing a trail through the 18/u event, where unseeded he took out the No 3 seed Steve Jarman from Surrey in the semi final to set up a final against another ex-county team-mate and No.1 seed Ben Stride.

On finals day the unspoken questions being asked were did Molloy have the shots to defeat Stride and Rice and was he mentally tough enough to do so, having lost to both players convincingly in recent months.

First up was Stride and Molloy answered emphatically as he fired winners off both his forehand and backhand in totally outclassing a clearly shell-shocked opponent 6-1, 6-1.

Just over an hour later Molloy was back on court for the 16s final where he took barely more than 90 minutes to defeat Rice 6-2, 6-2.

The icing on the cake was then taking a call from the 18/u County Cup captain informing him he had been selected to join the team for next month’s Group 2 matches againt Hampshire & IOW, Nottingham and Surrey at the Tides Leisure Centre in Kent.

On the league front, the men’s 1st team, including Molloy, were in action on Sunday against Amherst.

Alex Jones was joined by Richard Ayton in his 1st team debut as they helped the team claim a whitewash win. The only slight blip came when Molloy and Louie West went 3-0 down in the opening set of the second rubber before reeling off the next 12 games.

The ladies 4th team was also in action in an entertaining match against Chichester 2nds, where despite some dogged play they went down 3-1.

Lorrayne Molloy and Rohini Masters secured the only win as they beat the opposition second pair.

Gill Stafford and Suzy Gray narrowly failed to get what would have been a well deserved draw as they went down in a third set champions tie break to Chi’s top pair.

Premier League Wolverhampton Wanderers are eyeing up Brighton’s Gustavo Poyet as a potential replacement for recently sacked Mick McCarthy.

The Black Country outfit had interviewed Alan Curbishley, Neil Warnock and Steve Bruce but were left having to widen their search after all three turned their backs on the job.

Reading’s Brian McDermott is also believed to also be on the Molineux club’s shortlist and is considered a more likely option than Poyet because of his greater experience in the second flight.

Poyet has previously said he would remain loyal to the Albion unless faced with an offer he considered too good to turn down.

However, with a relative inexperience in management and a CV which currently boasts a single promotion from League One, the popular boss is unlikely to be in the running for more high profile vacancies in the near future.

Online bookies SkyBet currently have Poyet as joint second favourite at 5/2 with McDermott at 9/4.

Sussex County Cricket Club have announced that they will be returning to Dubai in March as part of their pre-season preparations.

It is with thanks to the Crimson Hotel Group and Sport Arabia Ltd that Sussex are able to make another trip abroad following the Caribbean T20 last month and the club are grateful of their support and the continued partnership between themselves and the club.

The squad will fly out to the UAE on Tuesday 20th March and will play initially in the Emirates Airlines Twenty20 2012 Tournament, alongside Durham Dynamos, Lancashire Lightning and an MCC XI, featuring Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, with the matches taking place at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai.

The tour’s primary objective though will be preparing the squad for four-day cricket with a program of practise sessions planned, culminating in a two-day game against Durham, as they look towards their season opener against Surrey at the Kia Oval, which begins on Thursday 5th April.

Sussex’s Professional Cricket Manager Mark Robinson said, “Guaranteeing being able to play on good wickets against good opposition in good weather is a key commodity in pre-season, and we’re grateful to our sponsors for not making us rely on the unpredictable English weather during this vital time.”

Sussex supporters can win a trip for two to Dubai to watch the Emirates Airline Twenty20 by visiting the Sport Arabia Facebook page at www.facebook.com/sportarabia

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