Lobsters reach boiling point

Goals from Tre Mitford and Tyrone Pink concluded Redhill’s pre-season in the best possible way on Saturday, with a win over Sussex County Football League Divison 1 side Eastbourne Town.
The early minutes of the game were controlled by Redhill and they should have taken an early lead in the 6th minute, when Gavin Gordon mistimed a volley at the far post from a good cross by Chris O’Flaherty on the right. Tyrone Pink hobbled off after landing awkwardly on his foot early on from a corner, but after initial fears, he was able to continue soon after. Eastbourne Town took advantage of this and responded minutes later with a low, long range effort which was well stopped by Lobsters keeper Tom Betts.
Mitford nearly gave Redhill the lead in the 29th minute, with a wonderful curling effort which just flew over Eastbourne’s bar, a goal didn’t seem far away. And it seemed even closer when Chris O’Flaherty, who was a menace all afternoon, lined up a free kick from just under 30 yards, only to see his magnificent effort bettered by a stunning save from Town’s keeper, clawing round the post for a Redhill corner. Mitford tried to break the deadlock yet again, but only saw his thumping left foot volley cannon off the bar, which signalled the end of an eventful, yet goalless first half.
After the break, Mitford finally broke the deadlock in the 54th minute after making the most of a ball from O’Flaherty, taking it down on his chest, rounding the stranded Town keeper and calmly slotting the Lobsters ahead. From that moment on, the goal seemed to have given Redhill confidence to push on and it was clear to see as soon after Mitford’s goal, Gavin Gordon tried an audacious volley from a tight angle on the right wing, which just went wide of the far post, Redhill looked like they were close to a second.
And it did come, courtesy of Tyrone Pink, who had the legs to beat the on-rushing Eastbourne keeper to the ball to stab it in from the corner of the box, much to the delight of fans, management and of course, the players.
In the latter stages of the game, Eastbourne did put Redhill under pressure, however a fine second half from centre-back Jeffrey Dankwa and his fellow defensive partners kept them at bay, and was enough to see out a fine 2-0 win going into the first game of the 2014/15 league season against East Grinstead at Kiln Brow.