Purples haze ends Pagham’s little run

Pagham boss Kerry Hardwell will be hoping for an improvement in the league visit to Saltdean on Saturday after the Lions crashed out of the FA Cup with a 3-0 loss at AFC Stoneham.

After early Stoneham pressure, the Lions started to push forward with purpose but nothing fell from them.

Callum Chalmers had two weak shouts for a penalty denied but other than that, a Tom Atkinson shot across the six-yard box and wide and a tipped-over shot from Jared Rance, they caused few worries for the Purples’ defence.

Maciek Kason in the Pagham goal was forced into two excellent saves but just before the break Alex Welch found himself unmarked in the sixyard box to head a right-wing cross into the net.

It was all Pagham early in the second half and Conor Geoghegan was unlucky to see his header from a Rance corner pushed over the bar.

Other than that, the Lions could produce nothing much of note and it was Stoneham making any chances going.

The inevitable happened in the 72nd minute as another piece of slack defending in the Pagham defence left Ben Clarke all the space he needed to crash home a close range header from a corner.

The Lions pushed forward but Edu Jimenez took advantage of the space at the back to bend a lovely 25-yard shot into the top corner after 87 minutes.

■ Pagham drew 0-0 at home to Loxwood in an SCFL premier game on Tuesday.

■ Pagham’s under-18s lost 3-0 when they started their league campaign with as tough a game as possible at home to pre-season favourites Steyning Town.

PAUL DAVIDSON