Adie Girdler made a surprise return to action on Saturday as Chichester notched up a convincing home victory against Redhill. Lee Preston, City's regular goalkeeper, may be ruled out for the remainder of the campaign after picking up a cartilage injury during the Arundel clash earlier in the month. It was therefore left to Girdler to act as stand-in, and he certainly looked the part in his custard-coloured jersey. The forty-something manager, who appeared regularly on the park up until 1999/2000, only re-registered himself as a player on the morning of the match but pulled off a series of acrobatic saves that delighted the 63 spectators at Church Road

Opponents Redhill hadn't won a game for six weeks and have been making heavy weather of notching up their 1,000th ever league triumph. A poor first-half performance from the ramshackle Reds, who also had an unlikely face in goal in the shape of Matt Dean, allowed Chi a generous 3-0 advantage at the break. Paul Thomas converted a free-kick on 10 minutes, and then half an hour later Matt Smith headed home a loose ball. Moments later, a tame attempt by Roger Moore somehow crept between the legs of the Redhill keeper to make it three.

The second period began with signs of defiance, and when Ryan Hackett rifled home a reply for the visitors on 56 minutes it looked like the game wasn't dead yet. However, a spell of scrappy play followed, and with ten minutes remaining centre-forward Jamie Laidlaw lobbed home his 30th goal of the season to round off a good day's work.

As it turned out, Chichester were the only top-six side to record a victory over the weekend, thus keeping alive their chances of claiming runners-up spot behind league champions elect Burgess Hill.

Report written by Chester Browton for the Chichester Observer

Team: Girdler, Fitt, Champion, Robertson, Angell, Matt Smith, Chandler, Thomas, Moore, Laidlaw, Osborne
Subs: Cowie, Butlin
Scorers:Thomas, Matt Smith, Laidlaw, Moore