Lancing Starting XI:

Alieu Secka, Jake LeGrange, Tom Butler, Marcus Allen, Mohamed Zabadne, Finn Daniels-Yeoman (Capt.) Tyrone Madhani, Darius Goldsmith, Louis Veneti, Reece Hallard, Faris Khallouqi.

Substitutes:

Sean Stephenson, Marcel Powell, Ben Hack, Ben Bayoko, Ollie Starkey.

With one win and a draw under their belt it was a confident looking City side which lined up against Lancing, still looking for their first league win. Back into the starting line-up came keeper Alieu Secka and Reece Hallard. Matia Tamale was absent and this provided an opportunity for Faris Khallouqi to make his first start.  Tom Butler continued alongside Marcus Allen, with Ashley Mutongerwa not fully recovered from injury.

How would Lancing respond to their disappointing performance against Three Bridges?   Would they have the character and desire to bounce back?

This question was answered by the way Lancing burst into life straight from the kick off. Finn Daniels-Yeoman won a tussle for the ball, fed Louis Veneti, who switched the ball to Tyrone Madhani. He went for goal but got underneath the ball and blazed it high. Finn was leading by example and was again the instigator of another attack on the City goal. This time he switched play out to the right, finding Tyrone Madahani who spotted the overlapping run of Jake LeGrange.Jake fired in a cross but it was over hit. The attacking momentum was maintained by Reece Hallard. He did well to retain possession and get past his marker before hitting a long ball from the left bye line beyond the far post to Tyrone Madhani, whose attempt to control a difficult ball saw it run away from him. Barely five minutes on the clock and Lancing clearly showed they were up for the challenge. Their most promising start to a game so far.

Chichester were finding it had to play out from the back as Lancing were pressing high and closing down quickly. Number 11, Ethan Prichard looked a real talent for City and it was he who caused some early consternation with a sharp shot on the turn from 25 yards, which had Alieu Secka scrambling across his goal line but he was not called upon to get down and make a save as the ball ran wide of the upright.

Faris Khallouqi and Mo Zabadne were supporting each other well, both offensively and defensively. Faris made a promising break down the left but, in trying to get the ball to the right of the box by curling it with the outside of his right boot, he miscued his attempted cross and the ball went straight out of play.

Louis Veneti was all action and after Faris had been penalised for a foul on Prichard , the resultant free kick was headed well clear by Finn Daniels-Yeoman. Louis collected the ball and made headway towards the goal only for the ball to run away from him. For all their energetic forward momentum, Kieran Magee in the City goal was not put under any real pressure. Finn Daniels-Yeoman did force him to make a save on the half hour mark.

Lancing were controlling the midfield with Finn and Darius Goldsmith coming out on top.

Darius delivered a superb long ball which allowed Tyrone Madhani to get in behind but the final pass failed to pick out a team mate. Late in the half, City were forced to make their first substitution. CallumOverton had collided with Alieu Secka and was unable to continue. He was replaced by Ryan Pennery.

Some murmurs of discontent could be heard amongst supporters, as the half came to an end with nothing to show for some fine attacking play. Chichester had not posed any major problems for the home defence with a lot of their long probing passes being over hit. Alieu Secka’s major contribution had been to urge his side on and issue instructions to those in front of him.

It was surprising to see Ethan Prichard being replaced for the second half by Kaleem Haitham, but perhaps he had picked up an injury.

An early breakthrough came for Lancing two minutes in. Mo Zabadne did well to win possession and pick out a perfect pass for Louis Veneti. Despite being closely policed by a couple of defenders, Louis twisted and turned, creating space to get in a well struck shot which gave keeper Magee no chance.

A couple of minutes later, referee Daniel D’Urso had to deal with a confrontation between players of both sides. This was triggered by a dangerous tackle by Ryan Davidson which left Mo Zabadne stretched out in pain. A melee ensued and the result was a yellow card for Jake LeGrange and a red for Ben Pashley, who appeared to be claiming a case of mistaken identity as he trooped disconsolately from the pitch. Davidson also received a caution.

As so often happens, when a team is reduced to 10 men, this inspires them to raise their game and City certainly were able to find space on the flanks to get forward and threaten Lancing more than they had done in the first half. There was a nervy mood in the home crowd but Lancing still succeeded in creating a number of good scoring opportunities on the counter attack.

Ollie Starkey had recovered from the injury sustained against Three Bridges and he came on for Faris Khallouqi, who had made a good contribution on the left flank.

Reece Hallard had a volley off target, Tyrone Madhani had an effort curl just wide of the far post. Reece Hallard had a couple more efforts on goal, one of which brought a fine close range save from Magee. Tyrone Madhani then picked up what appeared to be a harsh caution, the referee interpreting an accidental handball as deliberate.

Louis came close again bringing a fine two handed save from Magee to keep out a fierce drive towards the near upright.

Lancing tightened up and saw off any serious attempt by City to draw level. Marcel Powell was brought on late for Louis Veneti , followed by Sean Stephenson for Tyrone Madhani. Ollie Starkey had the last word running at the City defence and forcing a save from Magee .

So, in the end, there was a sense of relief when the final whistle blew with the first three points in the bag. A definite improvement from Saturday’s encounter with Three Bridges but a shame that the early domination was not rewarded with a few goals. The work rate was to be admired and a clean sheet was well merited by a solid defence.

Finn, Louis and Mo in the reckoning for MOM but Mo came out in front. He anticipated the ball coming forward, timed his interceptions perfectly and helped set up Louis Veneti for his goal. He did well to continue after a very painful tackle.

Dave Wilmott