YM hope 6-0 rout at Lancing is a good omen for massive cup semi-final against Bognor

Peter Buckland’s side went one better than last week’s 6-3 home thumping of Shoreham, as three goals in each half secured a very comfortable three points.

Boss Buckland said: “In the first ten minutes I thought that we might have had a game on our hands. We were probably functioning at about 70 percent of our capability to be honest and I was quite relieved to have been 2-0 up midway through the half because I thought Lancing were a really lively side.

“They are a young team who I think are going to be a right force in a year or two. I said that I wanted us to double the score in the second half and that’s exactly what we did and we played some really, really good football.”

The visitors opened the scoring just after the quarter hour mark through top goalscorer Nick Sullivan, before a quick-fire second and third were added by Liam Hunter and Dave Brown during a six-minute spell midway through the first period.

Sullivan doubled his tally for the afternoon to make it 4-0 quarter of an hour after the break and Brad Curtis notched YM’s fifth just 60 seconds later, before Dan Evans completed the rout with eighteen minutes still to play.

As well as securing an important three points, the win also provided YM with the perfect preparation for their Sussex Senior Cup semi-final against Bognor Regis Town, which will also be played at Lancing’s Culver Road a week on Monday.

Buckland said: “When you play away from home it does have a little impact because you have to get used to the surroundings and the ground and that kind of thing.

“It was absolutely perfect timing to play Lancing, ready for the semi-final next Monday, and I’m really looking forward to it.”

YM have two league games to contest before that though, starting with the small task of hosting league leaders East Preston at Gorings Mead on Tuesday evening.

Buckland added: “I’ve set the players a target of 80 points for the season and that means that we’ve got to win all of our nine league games left. The toughest of those is probably Tuesday, and then we’ve got Hassocks and Crowborough, but we’ve proven in the past that we can take care of them.”

YM weren’t helped in their push for promotion this week, as Rye United’s withdrawal from Division 1 has seen all of the Quarterboys’ remaining fixtures treated as losses, with their opponents being handed a cheap three points under County League ruling.

Buckland concluded: “We have had a bit of misfortune with the Rye United situation and teams around us getting an additional three points. We could have done without that but you’ve just got to take it.

“At the start of the season I sat in the committee room and said that I would promise the club a top six finish. We will finish in the top six at least and we have also had some lovely little cup runs thrown in for good measure.”

YM (4-2-3-1): Lockwood, Carden (Wood), Crane, Burgess (Gedling), Evans, Dugdale (c), Hunter, D. Brown, B. Curtis, D. Sullivan, N. Sullivan (Grantham).