Our annual friendly with long-standing partners, Gardner & Scardifield, produced goals aplenty on Wednesday night at Culver Road.

The visitors, who are proud supporters of sport across Sussex, arrived looking to get their name back on the trophy for the first time since 2018. Unfortunately, they fell behind early on after a well-worked move down the left resulted in a tidy finish.

From there on, our Sussex side, with a few guest appearances from new partners Sussex Transport, controlled proceedings and were far more clinical in-front of goal.

Threaded balls through the lines seemed to be the order of the day and the lead was soon doubled, two became three soon after, both similar fine solo efforts.

A fourth was added before the break without reply, as our players asserted dominance over proceedings, limiting the visitors to a few efforts from distance.

The second-half, started in similar fashion, with an early goal extending the lead to 5-0.

Another through-ball saw the Sussex side add a sixth, but Gardner & Scardifield grew into the game playing some nice football out from the back and began to find more space in the attacking third to create chances.

Those chances were rewarded with a consolation goal just shy of the hour mark, as the Scardies player was first to react following a fine save tipping the ball onto the post, to poke in.

Numerous other chances fell the way of Gardner & Scardifield throughout the second period, but a combination of fine goalkeeping and a lack of composure saw those opportunities go to waste.

At the other end our players showed little empathy dispatching a seventh, eighth, nineth and finally a tenth finish to add gloss to the score-line.

The result means the shield remains proudly in our trophy cabinet for another year.

Gardner and Scardifield was established over 100 years ago in Lancing, West Sussex and have now grown into a group of Builders Merchants, Electrical Wholesalers and DIY Suppliers throughout Sussex.

Supplying materials to both trade and retail, they build long term customer relationships which benefit both them and their customers while keeping a strong community focus.

(A selection of photographs can be found on Facebook - courtesy of Kyle Hemsley Photography)
(Video highlights are available above and on YouTube - courtesy of Your Instant Replay)

To find out more about Gardner & Scardifield please contact:

Gardner & Scardifield
T: 01903 755774
E: sales@gardnerandscardifield.co.uk