Arundel scrape past Blues in cup clash

Scott Tipper hit Arundel's winner against Rustington on Tuesday

ARUNDEL Football Club got back to winning ways on Tuesday evening with victory over local rivals Rustington at Mill Road in the Peter Bentley Cup.

The Mullets had suffered a humilating seven-goal defeat at home to Hailsham in the Sussex Senior Cup on Saturday but bounced back with a win over division-lower Blues.

Arundel boss Simon Butler felt the result was the most important thing from the night and said: “After Saturday, confidence was a bit low, so it was great to pick up the win.

“A local derby in the cup is never ideal, but full credit to them, they played well and gave us a real test.

“In the first half, they closed us down and restricted us to very few chances.

“I had a word at the break and we were better in the second half and managed to pick up the win. But they worked us really hard and it was a struggle at times.”

It was Arundel who had the first real chance of note in the game and they went ahead on 30 minutes.

Sam Mannings crossed from the left and Gary Peters crashed the ball into his own net after being put under pressure by Arundel frontman Luke Richards.

The visitors had a chance to level just six minutes later when Tom Baker’s cross found Josey Stakim but he failed to get his shot away.