Seven star Lancers claim win at reigning champions

There was little sign of the chaos that was to ensue when Scott Packer put Golds ahead early on and, after Dave O’Callaghan equalised for Lancers, the match turned on the sending off of the hosts keeper Jordan Matthews five minutes into the second half.

Naz Rouane put the visitors ahead, then braces from Alex Fair and Will Berry, who also had a penalty saved, along with a late Ross Adams strike completed the rout.

Lancers boss Richard Whittington was proud of his players and hailed an incredible night for his side.

He said: “No-one saw that coming.

“I’m so pleased and very proud of the team, what was most pleasing for me was the way that we kept going forward and attacking even when we had scored five.

“We were relentless, scored some cracking goals and could have had more, it’s just hard to believe and it’s incredible.

“I was hopeful of a win but never imagined a scoreline like this.

“It’s the best performance I can remember from a Lancing team for a long, long time.”

Packer put Littlehampton ahead when he steered home from Peter Beadle’s square ball in the sixth minute, but, from then on Lancers had the better of things without really creating any clear-cut chances.

O’Callaghan equalised shortly before half-time when his mishit cross shot looped over the head of Matthews and into the net for his second goal in as many matches.

Then, five minutes into the second half, came the game’s main talking point.

Golds keeper Matthews handled outside the area with Mike Williamson in on goal and the stopper was shown a straight red card.

Danny Hand took the gloves but his first job was to pick the ball out of his net when captain Naim Roaune scored direct from the resultant free-kick.

Alex Fair fired in a close-range effort to set Lancers on course for a memorable win and they were not done there. Will Berry’s driven effort made it four just past the hour mark.

Things were fast becoming a rout now and Fair made it 5-1 when he latched onto O’Callaghan’s ball forward and to loft over the advancing Hand.