Lancing beat Eastbourne United thanks to Fair hat-trick
A hat-trick from Alex Fair and one from Lewis Finney sealed the Lancers win.
Finney opened the scoring for the Lancers on 24 minutes after a superb piece of individual skill allowed him to finish.
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Hide AdUnited equalised on 33 minutes after a Kane Penn cross was put into the Lancing net by a Lancers player.
The hosts were back in front on 44 minutes through Fair.
It was level on 48 minutes when Sam Crabb prodded home after an initial shot was saved at point blank range by Lancing’s Matt Evans.
Fair restored the lead on 81 minutes with an excellent finish.
Fair completed his hat-trick in stoppage time as he was first to react to a Mitch Hewens rebounded effort.
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Hide AdAfter the match Rouane praised his opposition for the way they challenged his side.
He said: “I thought on the day we were not at our best but I still thought we were more than worthy winners.
“Really disappointed with the two goals we conceded, both very preventable, lapses of concentration cost us with an own goal and a set play.
“Also on the day our final pass was poor in the first half especially we got to the edge of the box on countless occasions and we were lacking that bit of quality or finish which is unusual for us.
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Hide Ad“Credit to Eastbourne on the day I thought they worked tirelessly and really had a good go, they’ve improved hugely under Matt (Crabb) he’s doing a great job.
“I think they’ll continue to improve and take points from many sides.”
The Lancers visit Lingfield on Tuesday before hosting Saltdean United on Saturday and Rouane is expecting both games to be tough test for his team.
He added: "Lingfield will be a tricky fixture, speaking to a few managers about them it’s always tough there, we will have to be at our best to get something from the game.
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Hide Ad"Likewise Saltdean are a very different side to the one we played a couple of months back, I think teams now know what we’re about and raise their game.
"It’s also a nice place (Culver Road) to come and play and I think players enjoy playing on good surfaces so we will have to be prepared.
Lancing: Evans, Blencowe, Beresford, Williamson, Sharman (Juwara 62), Hendy, Rhodes (Woolven 75), Coupar (Hewens 62), Fair, Caplin, Finney
Unused: Mitchell-Phillips, Berry