Vs. White Knight (H)
Starting XI	Substitutes:
Simon Cutler
Chris Mammone (c)
Wes Longley
Gary Williams
Seb Elliott
Anthony Hunter	(75 Gary Walsh)
Stuart Calderwood	(45 Jack Hunter)
Ollie Jeffs
Pete Cooper
Zac Smith	(15 Jake Wilkinson)
Josh Mullett
Referee: T Slater
HT Score: 0-1
FT Score: 0-1

Having hit the post and cross bar and missed squandered six second half chances to score, Battle went away from this fantastically entertaining Division 6 encounter wondering whether they would have scored even had they played for 90 hours, let alone 90 minutes.

Having started with great optimism, the home team were made to defend defiantly as their Eastbourne opponents had the better chances early on. Making his first appearance of the season, Battle keeper Simon Cutler made a superb reflex save to deny a certain goal in the 28^th minute, this after an ankle injury forced striker Zac Smith to be replaced by the giant Jake Wilkinson whose effect was immediate when a neat passing move down the right flank resulted in a goal-bound shot from Pete Cooper that brought a great save from White Knight’s custodian following good work by the industrious Josh Mullett.

Strangely the visitors also made an early substitution after their centre half mysteriously suffered sudden amnesia - forgetting who and where he was and not able to recognise any of his teammates.

White Knight inflicted the deciding blow in the 32^nd minute when their tempestuous striker found space in the 18-yard box and stoked his shot coolly past Simon Cutler to score.

Urged on by a supportive crowd, swollen by a surprisingly early gap in the first team’s fixtures, Battle took the game by the scuff of the neck in the second period. The well-organised defence were able to resist any counter attacks, enabling the effervescent Baptist midfield to dominate. Wilkinson found space in the box but skewed his shot wide of the right post then overcompensated almost in an action replay when space opened up again this time skewing his shot wide of the left post. Another attack resembled pinball as several orange-shirted attackers nudged shots inside the 6-yard box with the final poke flipping off the base of the post.

Released by a lack of work in the defence, left back Seb Elliott pressed forward and hit a rasping shot from 30 yards only to see it graze the top of the cross bar as the wide-eyed White Knight keeper stood helpless.

Wave after wave of attacks proved fruitless for the orange-shirted home team who continued to seek weaknesses in White Knight’s defensive armour…but to no avail. Victorious White Knight won all three points in a game that they had no right to claim, leaving a hard working Battle team pondering what might have been. That’s football.