Fletching went into this fixture on the back of two impressive victories, and were keen to keep their charge up the league on track. Arch rivals Wealden were the visitors to The Recreation Ground for the second time this season after being knocked out by the Villagers in the Somerville Cup. With so much more than just three points at stake and the Framfield outfit looking for revenge, it was encouraging that for the second week running Hyland had a full squad to pick from with no changes from the line up against East court the previous week.

The game kicked off as expected with some hard challenges flying in as both teams looked to seize an early initiative. Fletching were playing some good confident football and were looking to Davidson and Burchett up front for the breakthrough, both of whom were seeming very sharp and on top of their game. The Archers pressure was starting to tell, when from a corner Wolvey won the ball with a towering header only for the Wealden keeper to acrobatically save it into the path of the unlikeliest of goal scorers. The big centre back Jamie Funnell had made a perfect run into the box, where he gambled on the captain’s header, creating space for himself to rifle home with a tremendous half volley from one yard out, netting only his eleventh goal in his long and illustrious Fletching career. This sparked jubilation amongst the swelling home crowd of Greg, Sol and Craig, whom Funnell acknowledged with his trademark celebration!! Fletching continued to press, and soon made it 2-0 when Roberts, terrorising ex Archer Steven Gillet at left back, pulled it back for Burchett who smashed the ball first time into the back of the net. The home side were cruising by this point, and maybe a bit of complacency crept in as Wealden pulled one back. Robson managed to beat six Fletching players and squirm the ball in at the near post to make it 2-1. It remained this way until half time in what was an increasingly hard fought game, which saw several nasty challenges go unpunished by the referee, Fletching still playing the better football.

The Villagers upped their game after a stern word from Hyland during the break, knowing this battle was far from over. The turning point came midway through the second half when Roberts raced through on goal only to be brought down cynically by Breeds in the box, leaving the referee with no option but to award penalty. After furious protests from the visitors, Burchett tucked away the resulting spot kick to give Fletching a two goal cushion which seemed to deflate the opposition and lead to some frustrating challenges from the Wealden camp in the closing stages of the game. The Archers remained focus though, adding another two goals before the close of play. Firstly, substitute Jamie Unwin with a brilliant left-footer from outside the box that curled miles, starting at least five feet outside the post, before Burchett completed his second hat-trick of the season to make it 5-1, after good work from the Darren Wolvey.

View From The Dancefloor with Billy Elliot (a.k.a Chris Hyland)
“This was another impressive display from the lads which keeps up our very impressive record against our local rivals, as well as continuing our winning league run to three straight victories. There seems to be a real stability in the team at the moment, and despite the loss of Davidson who picked up a bad injury on his ankle, and Leeves (work commitments) we will look to carry on our winning momentum next week in the cup. We travel to Keymer & Hassocks who top division five, and although on paper we should come away with a victory, we would do well to remember we were almost in a identical position last year when we visited our now promotion rivals East Court and got battered 4-0, so we will be prepared for a classic cup tie.”