Chichester took points off the title chasers for the second week running to keep things interesting at the top of division one.

Adie Girdler's men followed up last week's 1-1 draw at Horsham YMCA by toppling leaders Ringmer 2-1.

Wide men James Smith and Alex Ward scored either side of half-time before the visitors made the last 15 minutes exciting when Dominic Shepherd set up Gavin Jones for a close range goal.

But Chi held on and got what they deserved according to Girdler. He said: "We were understrength but the guys we brought in worked so hard, that was our route to success."

Ringmer's lead has been cut to seven points and second-placed YMCA also have three games in hand.

John Suter's men enjoyed a routine 4-0 win at bottom-of-the-table Southwick with the goals coming from Russell Eldridge, Matt Russell, Dave Gellatly and Dean Carden after good work by another substitute, Chris Plumridge.

Arundel produced the sort of reaction manager Vic Short expected as they recovered from last week's hammering at Whitehawk by defeating Hailsham 3-0 at the Beaconsfield.

Stuart Hack scored with a volley and a header before Matt Huckett converted a penalty after he had been brought down.

Short said: "It was exactly the sort of response I wanted, we worked so hard to get a very good result."

Steve Davies scored five times as Littlehampton ran riot at struggling Rye in a 6-1 hiding.

The former YM hitman was unstoppable after Ben Torode, son of assistant manager Brett, had opened the scoring in the fourth minute.

Yet it was Paul Williams who manager Carl Stabler picked out as the Marigolds' best player. "Paul was outstanding with Steve not far behind, " said Stabler.

Eastbourne United and Shoreham pulled clear of trouble in division one with impressive away wins.

Aaron MacMillan was pushed up front by Shoreham and responded with a hat-trick in the 4-1 victory at Redhill.

MacMillan struck with a volley, header and penalty before James Bentley got the fourth. All this after Ben Biggar had put Redhill in front.

Scott McDonald was restored to Eastbourne United's line-up after a heart-to-heart with boss Dave Shearing and scored the only goal in the first half to sink punchless Three Bridges.

Mark Lawrence's pass set up McDonald, who revelled in a new role playing just behind United's lone striker.

Shearing said: "Scott needed a kick up the backside so we dropped him last week.

"We had a chat afterwards and his response was exactly what I expected."

The third hat-trick of the day came at the Saffrons where in-form East Preston rescued a point thanks to the evergreen Phil Churchill.

Trailing 3-1 with two minutes left, Churchill struck twice, including a penalty, to complete his treble. Peter Featherstone, Ben Putland and Steve Dallaway scored for Eastbourne Town.

Wick's improved home form continued with a 3-2 victory over Sidley. Darren Annis and Danny Curd made it 2-0 inside 20 minutes but the visitors drew level thanks to Peter Baker's double before Tom Manton struck the decisive goal ten minutes from time.