Chichester City United's hopes of finishing as runners up in the County League suffered another setback when the present occupants of the No. 2 spot, Hailsham Town snatched all three points at Church Road on Saturday.

Chi's home form has been their undoing this season and they were on the slippery slope as early as the second minute when the visitors were gifted their first goal. Stand-in goalkeeper Gary Clark, making his first appearance since last August allowed a straightforward cross to slither out of his hands and Danny Brown was on hand to score from close range.

Jamie Angell thundered a long range shot over the bar at the other end and a Matt Smith free-kick was well saved by Hailsham 'keeper Russell Tanner as Chi chased the equaliser. Clark made some amends with good saves from Paul Richardson and Scott French but needed a last ditch intervention from Angell to clear another French shot off the line as the visitors sought to increase their advantage.

French missed a sitter at the start of the second half but Chi slowly built up the pressure on the away goal and finally grabbed an equaliser with just over ten minutes left. Matt Smith got free on the right and angled his pass across the penalty area where Jamie Laidlaw was on hand to knock in his 29th goal of the season.

Any relief Chi might have felt from getting back into contention lasted barely long enough for Hailsham to restart the game as Brown burst away from the home defence to steer his second goal of the game past Clark.

The Chi keeper then produced a good save to deny Brown's hat-trick but Hailsham were well on their way to becoming the sixth side to take full League points from Church Road this season.

Report written by Trevor Wallis for the Chichester Observer

Team: Clark, Brown, Champion, Fitt, Angell, Matt Smith, Chandler, Thomas, Moore, Laidlaw, Osborne
Subs: Cowie, Butlin & Brockway (both not used)
Scorers:Laidlaw