Golds win at Midhurst

Golds made hard work of the win against a side who they had lost to on penalties in the Sussex RUR Cup earlier in the season, and Bennett’s concern is that missed chances will come back to haunt his side.

He said: “We got the win in the end, which was the most important thing, but we can’t afford to keep missing gilt-edged chances.

“It’s not so much of a problem when we get the wins, but against the better sides, near the top, we’ll be punished for it,

“Midhurst could quite easily have got a point.

“It was a deserved and much-needed win, though. We made hard work of it and I thought there was a definite hangover from the great win in the week against Horsham.”

Ahead of a busy Christmas schedule, Golds sit fifth, three points behind third-placed Dorking, having ended a run of four successive league draws.

Danny Hand headed in a cross from brother, Mitchell, to put Golds ahead on 20 minutes, and Michael Hendrick increased their lead two minutes before half-time.

Golds’ Jimmy Taylor hit a post, before Andrew Newton headed in a corner on 68 to give the Midhurst renewed hope.

Golds then lost Jamie Atterwell to a suspected broken ankle, and although Midhurst saw a few half-chances fall their way, Littlehampton held on.

Bennett added: “Losing Jamie is a big blow. We don’t know yet how long he’ll be out for but it was a bad one and we hope it doesn’t affect us negatively.”

LITTLEHAMPTON: J.Hendrick; Goff, McKay, Bates, M.Hand; M.Hendrick, Bibb, Atterwell; Kew, Darwin, D.Hand. Subs: Taylor (Kew 63), Gaskin (Darwin 66), Kempson (Atterwell 73).

Golds have been drawn away to Ryman League Division 1 South Crawley Down in the quarter-finals of the Sussex Senior Cup.

No date has yet been arranged for the tie.