Sussex County League

Division One

East Grinstead Town 1

Wick 0

EAST Grinstead Town moved up to fifth in the table although they made hard work of a fourth successive win against struggling Wick at the GAC Stadium.

Manager Tony Beckingham was pleased to get the points on the board despite the under-par performance.

"It was one or our worst performances of the season. We seemed a bit jaded and lacked fluency but that's three points at the end of the day and that is all that mattered," he said.

"We have got some momentum now in the league which we want to keep going if we are to be a force this season."

Grinstead struggled to find any fluency throughout the game and although they deserved victory the result was always in doubt with such a slender lead.

They were thankful again to leading scorer Liam Baitup.

He scored his 13th goal of the season with a bullet header midway through the first half following a wonderful cross from the right from Dave Gellatly.

The goal came out of the blue as the hosts had struggled to make any impression on the visitors' goal and indeed it was Wick who had come closest through Dave Towers who hit a stinging volley straight at goalkeeper Adam Woodward.

Even after going in front there was no marked improvement in their performance as they still struggled to string any sort of passing together and only had a Richard Sinden effort that flew over from the edge of the box for their efforts as both sides struggled to find any cohesion.

Wasps did pick up slightly in the second half and although Wick had a good deal of possession they never really threatened Woodward and it was Grinstead who did create the bulk of the chances.

Wick were thankful twice to full back Kieran Urquhart who in the space of three minutes produce two goal line clearances, first from a Sinden flicked header and then from a powerful Lucas Mann header following a Chris Dicker cross. Sandwiched between this Baitup saw his curling effort tipped away by Greg Forster as Grinstead finally gained some momentum and enjoyed their best spell of the match

Wick rarely looked a threat and Baitup and Sinden went closed in the last ten minutes to extend Grinstead's lead.

Wasps have two home games coming up, both in the league.On Saturday they entertain Hailsham (3pm) before Ringmer are the visitors next Tuesday (7.30pm).

Grinstead: Woodward, Mann (Die), Wilson (Dicker), Sinclair, Cooney, Featherstone, Piscina (Moffatt), Collier, Sinden, Baitup, Gellatly.

Unused subs: Wallace, Lardent.