Crawley gave themselves a chance of survival in the Kent/Sussex Regional League thanks to an impressive 2-1 win over fourth placed Herne Bay.

Victory lifted Crawley off the bottom of the table for the first time this season and stretched their unbeaten run to six games.

With the issue of the number of teams to be relegated still unclear, Crawley can do no more than win their games.

The season concludes at home to champions-elect Holcombe on Saturday, although Crawley will be without six regulars.

Crawley came from behind to beat Herne Bay with Jamie Westwood equalising from a penalty stroke.

In the second half, the Herne Bay keeper made some great saves, most notably from Adrian Shuttleworth and Phil Butcher, but from Jerome Starkey's break and cross captain Terry Higgs scored his 15th goal of the season.

Higgs said: "I was particularly pleased with our performance especially from our South African contingent.

"Now we have given ourselves a chance to stay up but we must beat Holcombe which is no easy feat, especially with four of our six South Africans unavailable and two other first team players out. It still seems an uphill task but we will give it our best shot."

Meanwhile, Mid Sussex boosted their own survival hopes with a 4-1 win away to Horsham. James Goodwin and Steve Newton scored two apiece for Mids, while Will Wassell got Horsham's reply.

Mids have two games left to ensure they stay up, with this Saturday's clash with Gillingham Anchorians being followed by the visit of Old Williamsonians.

Mids' Phil Middleton said: "It was a good team performance and sets us up nicely for our last two games."

Worthing are not out of trouble but a 2-2 draw at Folkestone helped their cause. Mark Minchell scored twice as Worthing fought back from 2-0 down but Rex Fuller missed a late chance to win the game.

At the top, Brighton were 7-3 winners away to Ashford but they need Crawley to beat Holcombe this weekend to stand any chance of winning the title. Holcombe remain three points clear after a 5-0 win over third placed Blackheath.

Brighton finish away to Blackheath and skipper Carlo Missirian said: "We wish Crawley all the best but it will be a tall order for them. We want to make sure if mathematically it is viable then we have done what we have to do and that is to score a couple of goals and win."

The goals against Ashford came from Richard Cooke (two), Paul Daniels (two), Elvis Brown (two) and Graham Pruce.