Pagham 1, Haywards Heath Town 0: Solitary goal enough to beat Saunders' men

Heath started bright and were the brighter of the two sides in the first few minutes but despite possession and free kicks didn’t call the Pagham keeper into anything more than routine stops.

Pagham then upped their game and played very direct at Heath using the width well.

On 24 minutes that direct play paid off as Pagham went straight at the heart of Heath and a first time header from 20 yards caught Simon Lehkyj in no mans land as the ball looped over him and into the net to give the hosts the lead.

Heath then stepped their game up and went looking for a equaliser but both Jamie Weston and Callum Saunders could only find the keeper in the way.

Heath came out the second half looking to take the game to Pagham and with in minutes Callum Saunders broke down the right and found Kane Louis but his turn and strike lacked the required power to test the keeper.

Heath were pressing Pagham and looking for a way back into the game but Pagham also looked dangerous when going forwards, On 58 minutes the Pagham striker did well but his strike did not trouble Simon Lehkyj, the game flowed from end to end with Kane Louis seeing his strike well blocked following good wing play from Callum Saunders.

The frantic end to end game then saw Simon Lehkyj again called into action to make a good save on 59 minutes before Heath went straight down the other end where Callum Saunders was disappointed not to work the keeper.

Pagham then saw a shot fired wide of the target and then a header following a corner headed over the bar.

Heath continued to look for a way back in the game but wayward shooting continued as Naim Rouane fired over.

The final 15 minutes saw a flurry of free kicks and lots of time wasting as the home side looked to see the game out, as the game entered time added on Heath had two chances but Lewis Finney’s strike was off target and Callum Saunders saw another shot blocked.

Afterwards manager Shaun Saunders said “I was disappointed how we started the game as I know we are better than we showed, i asked for a reaction at half time of which we were much better after the break but couldn’t get ourselves in the right positions to change the scoreline. “That said Pagham have consistently been a strong SCFL side and we have had a great start to the season so have set our bench mark high.”

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