EP hit five to beat Bexhill

The win took EP three points clear at the top of the table, after they had lost both their previous matches 4-3, to Three Bridges and Pagham, and their manager Dominic Di Paola said: “We dominated throughout and it was a very comfortable win but we just let in a couple of rubbish goals.

“We should have scored 10 or 11 and we should be scoring a lot more goals in games than we are and we should be conceding a lot less, too.”

Lee Garnham missed two chances to give East Preston the lead, before Bexhill went ahead on 26 minutes when Lee Gibbs gave the ball away and Andrew Garman’s cross flew straight in.

A neat finish from Charlie Oatway drew EP level seven minutes later, before Garnham headed East Preston into the lead on 39 minutes.

Garnham got his second, and 13th goal of the season, with a deflected shot four minutes into the second half, before Bexhill’s Richard Saunders pulled a goal back on 54 minutes.

George Gaskin rounded the keeper to restore EP’s two-goal advantage with his 17th goal of the season just two minutes later but Bexhill again fought back and Saunders made it 4-3 on 74 minutes.

EP substitute Joe Shelley, back after a broken nose, sealed the win with nine minutes left.

On Saturday, East Preston entertain Steyning Town, who had won three successive games before their defeat to Loxwood at the weekend.

EAST PRESTON: Phillips; Meehan, O’Hagan, Duncan, Gibbs; Oatway, Axell, Clark, Barnard; Gaskin, Garnham. Subs: Shelley (Axell 65), Boutwood, S.Di Paola (Gaskin, O’Hagan 85).