Wonder strike from Hollobone all but secures safety for Langney Wanderers

Langney Wanderers have all but secured their Southern Combination Premier safety after a 98th minute Max Hollobone wonder strike secured a 2-1 victory at home to Pagham this past Saturday and gave them their third consecutive win, the first time Langney have managed this feat all season long.
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Langney took the lead after half an hour when Paul Rogers delivery was cushioned into the path of Evan Archibald by Tyler Capon. Archibald made no mistake and calmly slotted the ball home from close range.

Pagham subsequently equalised somewhat against the run of play with 17 minutes remaining and it looked like both sides would have to settle for a point until Hollobone picked up the ball on the left in the dying seconds and cut inside before unleashing an unstoppable drive from distance that found the top corner.

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The result sees the Wanderers remain in 15th place, but more importantly they are now 12 points clear of the dreaded relegation spots and just two points adrift of 13th placed Lancing.

With six games to go, manager Kenny McCreadie says his side are now looking to secure a strong midtable finish, something that seemed very unlikely just a few short weeks ago.

“We’re playing with smiles on our faces at the moment, we’ve gone back to basics and we’re playing a little more direct, getting the ball up to the front men a bit quicker and we’re looking sharper,” he explained.

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“We seem to keep going and going until the very end, we worked them well because Pagham are always a strong side even when they’ve got a couple of players missing like they do at the moment.

"They are always a strong unit and any time you beat Pagham you need to have played well and we did that. The wind was terrible, we went against it in the first half, but we managed to score a really good goal. We had another couple of chances too. They came out strong in the second half and eventually managed to equalise against the run of play but then the pleasing thing was that we kicked on again.

“The winning goal was special. It was a great goal and it was one of those where the minute it left his foot he was running away celebrating.

“We’re enjoying our football at the moment and we’re certainly looking above us rather than over our shoulders and perhaps that’s taking some of the pressure off. If we can secure a strong midtable finish that would be unbelievable from where we were.”

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Next up for Langney is a trip to Hassocks tomorrow, (Saturday, 3pm) who currently sit 12th in the table but have scored nine goals in their last two games.

“Hassocks have picked up in recent weeks and you always get a hard game at their place,” said McCreadie.

“They have a lovely pitch and lovely facilities, but we certainly don’t fear anyone at the moment. Richard Pingling is our only absentee because he’s still struggling with a hamstring injury, but Tyler has done fantastically well coming off the bench and his start will be well deserved in his place. I think mathematically if we win two more, we’re safe so that’s the first goal and we’ll see how far we can go from there.”

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