Bishop's Waltham Town 0, Lymington Town 2

LYMINGTON edged a step nearer the Sydenhams Wessex League Division 2 championship, while Waltham plunged deeper into relegation trouble after a tempestuous encounter at Priory Park on Tuesday night.

The match was peppered with late tackles and bickering which eventually erupted into a mass brawl, and it was no real surprise that the sendings-off beat the goals scored 3-2!

Lymington always looked a class above their hosts, but suffered a setback on 23 minutes when left-back Simon Young was shown the red card for a retaliatory hand in the face of Paul Clark.

But even with a numerical advantage the Bishops rarely looked like breaking through. Lymington took the lead seven minutes later when the unmarked Danny Veal's deft header guided John Bailey's free-kick from deep over Robbie Paice in the home goal and into the net.

Home chances were at a premium, but the crackerjack Kevin James always looked likely to extend Lymington's lead. He hit the bar with a snapshot shortly after half-time, and made it 2--0 with a neat shimmy and shot on 70 minutes after good work by Veal on the right.

Waltham's best opportunity came when Clark burst through the offside trap, but misplaced his final pass and gave Lymington the chance to clear their lines.

With the result no longer in doubt, an innocuous dispute over a throw-in two minutes from time somehow flared up into a major incident with most of the players, and both benches, involved.

It was a hellish job to sort out the aggressors from the peacemakers, but after due consultation with both assistants the referee eventually sent off Waltham skipper Allen Miles and Lymington sub Kevin Brennan, both of whom had already been booked.

Shortly afterwards the final whistle blew on a match in which the ugly side of football had eclipsed the 'beautiful game'.

The three points - on top of their win at Hythe on saturday - extended Lymington's lead to ten, and they look good enough to go on and win the title.

But Fawley's victory at Amesbury means that Waltham are now separated from the relegation zone only by goal difference. They urgently need to find the winning touch if they're to pull themselves out of the mire.