Heath boss Painter not taking Little Common lightly

The Bears host their division-lower opponents at the Leisure Centre as both sides bid for a place in the last four.

Painter sees his side go into the clash in good form although they will be without injured Jack Lyons and Rob Godfrey, who required stitched to his head in their 3-1 win over East Preston on Saturday.

He is hopeful, however, Tiago Andrade, who is dual-signed with Kingstonian and Godalming, will be available.

Painter said: “We are still missing Timmy Martin and Merv Bhujun is out for the season, but you have to move on, you can’t keep moaning about injures, but I would like to have every available for just one week.

“We are on a good run at the moment apart from the Pagham game. They were better than us all over the park and worked harder.

“We just weren’t at the races, but apart from that we have been doing very well.”

That run has seen Heath lose just one of their last six games with wins against Arundel and Littlehampton and a point against Horsham YMCA.

Common sit eighth in Division 1 and suffered a 3-0 defeat to Lingfield on Saturday, but recorded an impressive 5-1 scalp over Arundel in the Sussex Senior Cup last month, before being knocked out by Worthing.

Painter added: “We could have got Horsham or Loxwood, or Lancing and Hassocks are still in there, so have been quite fortunate.

“But you cannot take anyone for granted. I know quite a few players that have played against Little Common and they have two lively centre-forwards - we cannot take them for granted.”

Painter is also hoping the weather clears up this afternoon, as due to the game already being postponed once, another would mean a switch to Little Common.

Kick-off tonight is 7.45pm.

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