Goal machine Ellis Collier struck twice but was then sent off as Lancers picked up their first point of the season.
In a fiery second half flashpoint, chaos descended on Culver Road. Ellis’ second equaliser sparked a melee in which Collier was shown a red card for violent conduct, and Midhurst keeper Lewis Boughton was also sent off for his part in the fracas.

It all meant Lancing ended with nine men after Ramon De Santos was also dismissed for a second yellow, our third red card in two league games. The visitors, meanwhile, played out the rest of the game a man light and with their no.11 Elliott Cannon as a moonlighting goalkeeper. 

After Saturday’s FA Vase defeat at Phoenix Sports, Coxy shuffled his pack and made five alterations to his XI. Jordan returned in goal with Blu Abbott on the bench, whilst Messrs Berry, Hurst, Robinson and Spiteri replaced Jack Downie, Jed, Kane and Gabriel Partington in the starting line-up. As it happened, Will only lasted the first quarter of an hour before a back niggle saw him substituted with Jack his replacement.

Collier bookended the scoring in this four-goal slow burner with a screamer and a close range finish. Ellis has caught the eye in his embryonic Culver Road career, but the fact the left-back is our top scorer (with three), is both impressive and as worrying as the lack of goals from elsewhere.

So too is Lancing’s propensity to leave the door ajar at the back. Most of the visitors joy in front of goal came from a tendency to overplay or lose possession, with Harry Tremlett almost the early beneficiary. Ryan Riddles loose ball down the line was seized upon, and Tremlett burst clear of the defence only to see Jordan equal to his effort with a good low save.

Zachariah Rhioui went close after good link up between Belal and Frankie Spiteri, but the Lancers soon brought the sparse Bank Holiday crowd to their collective feet. This fledgling season may only be seven matches old, but this was already a goal of the season contender. It deserved a bigger crowd, and perhaps a bigger occasion, but it was a goal that would not look out of place in any top drawer compilation. An outswinging flag-kick found its way to Collier and he let fly with a 30-yarder than left Boughton clutching at thin air as the ball whistled past him on its way in.

But it wasn’t long before Lancing’s familiar failings reared an ugly head once more. Having failed to heed the warnings of that earlier let-off, Lancers were again guilty of trying to play out from the back. Midhurst this time took full advantage as Maxwell Allen pilfered possession and teed up Moussa Traore to apply a simple finish via a post three minutes before the break. 

Spiteri fired narrowly wide on the turn and the portly Mason Taylor had a shot saved at the other end in the final action of the half.

More akin to a rugby union prop than a County League football centre-forward, the hefty Taylor bore the brunt of the small but vocal Culver Road crowd’s light-hearted heckling.
It was perhaps fitting therefore it would be him to play a pivotal part in the proceedings. There was an element of luck about it as Allen challenged for the ball with Ryan but had his legs taken out from under him in Riddles inadvertent follow through. 

Pantomime villain Taylor dusted himself down and saw his initial spot-kick brilliantly saved by Jordan. But the ball bounced kindly back to him and Taylor was on hand to sweep in at the second attempt, throwing in a cheeky mocking wave in the celebrations. 

But the youthful Lancers responded well and saw a flurry of chances created – and spurned. Gabe had a shot blocked on the line, Spiteri headed over and Ramon fired into the side netting on the angle. 

 When Ramon was then sent off for a late challenge on the wonderfully named Prince Aderogba, it seemed as though Lancing’s fingers were poised dangerously close to the button labelled ‘self-destruct’.

But there is a spirit in this group of young players in Yellow and Blue conspicuous in absentia last season. A goal and a man down, many inside the ground feared the worst with the Lancers facing a fourth consecutive league loss. 

We had reckoned without Coller’s poachers’ instinct. Quite why the left-back was so far upfield in the 81st minute only he will know, but he started and finished the move superbly with a buccaneering run to sweep in from close range. 

Remarkably, it was Collier’s third goal of the season and he is the only Lancing player to score at HQ this season.

It sparked a chain of events that turned this Bank Holiday Monday contest from calm to chaos.
After Boughton grabbed substitute Kane Louis round the neck as he went to retrieve the ball, the referee consulted with his assistant and sent off the stopper. Collier allegedly threw a punch as tempers flared in the aftermath, so he too was also ordered from the field. 

Once the storm had abated, things calmed down enough for the match to be played to a serene finish with no further drama.
In truth, a draw was probably a fair result although both teams, for different reasons, will leave unhappy with a point apiece.

Lancing XI: Jordan Brown; Belal Ouachan, Ellis Collier, Ryan Riddles, Will Berry (c), Ben Cheverton, Zachariah Rhioui, Dylan Hurst, Frankie Spiteri, Gabe Robinson, Ramon De Santos. Substitutes: Jack Downie (for Berry 12), Jed Warner (for Rhioui 58), Kane Louis (for Spiteri 66), Blu Abbott, Gabriel Partington.