Mid Sussex are refusing to give up on survival despite the odds being stacked against them.

Ten points adrift at the bottom with nine games to play, nobody is giving them a chance of staying in the Kent/Sussex Regional League.

Vice captain Mike Dovey acknowledges relegation is a likely outcome but insists they will not concede defeat until staying up is impossible.

He says they are looking to improve in every game they play and believes the future of the club is bright despite their problems this year.

The first step on the road to recovery after a miserable few months took place on Saturday when Mids held second-placed Sutton Valence to a 3-3 draw at The Triangle.

Without a win in their first 12 games, they scored twice in the final five minutes to stun the visitors.

It was the sign captain John Holmes and Dovey needed to show them what they are doing is right for the club.

When a host of first team regulars left last summer, Mids had to throw untried teenagers in at the deep end.

Dovey explained: "We lost seven or eight first team members from last year, not squad players but regulars. Any team would strug-gle to lose that number of players in the summer.

"It was for a variety of reasons, Andy Green went to Lewes, Phil Middleton stopped playing because of family commitments, another two now work on Saturdays and cannot play. Unfortunately, all these things happened at once and a few happened quite late in the summer so we didn't have a chance to look for replacements.

"We had to turn to second XI players and bring a number of the colts through. We have Scott Simpkins, who is only 14 or 15, playing for us now. There is also Matthew Hough, who is only 16, and goalkeeper Sam Parsons, who is 18.

"We had to fill in with youth and throw them in at the deep end but they are improving.

"The first half of the season was a disaster in terms of points but now we are striving to improve on every result from the first half of the season.

"The way it looks it is very difficult to survive but you only need two or three wins and it changes everything."

Dovey gave Mids the lead on Saturday but they found themselves trailing 3-1 going into the closing stages. Dovey then won a penalty flick which Holmes converted and in the dying seconds James Chadburn scored from a rebound.

Whatever happens between now and the end of the season, Dovey believes the future is bright.

He said: "We have a good, solid club and we have ploughed a lot of time and effort into the younger element."

Mids had the best result of the Sussex sides in the regional league last weekend as Worthing lost 5-1 at Folkestone despite a penalty flick from captain Bryan Lock and Eastbourne went down 2-1 at home to Ashford, with Alex Barnes scoring their consolation.

In division one, Horsham went goal crazy as they blitzed Bexley Invicta 19-0 to consolidate top spot.

Mark Ansell scored eight, Richard Lowe hit four, Mark Humphreys and Ryan O'Gorman chipped in with hat-tricks and skipper Ian Brown also found the net. Brown said: "We beat them 5-2 earlier in the season so I expected to beat them but not by so much. They had their regular players.

"We played exceptionally well and once we got to a certain point I think their heads went down. It was good because we needed the goal difference."

This Saturday Horsham visit third-placed Crawley, who returned to winning ways with a 2-1 success at Gillingham Anchorians thanks to Jon Marriott and Steve Innes.

Jamie Bird scored a hattrick, his first goals for the first team, as Southwick beat Cliftonville 5-0 to remain fourth. Skipper Kieran Smith got the other two while defender Ian Atkins was man-of-the-match.

Penguin lost 5-3 at home to Kings College London despite open play goals from Tim Warren and Stefan Wilkinson, plus a short corner strike by Rob Hallett.

Andy Acott and Jamie Busbridge scored for South Saxons in a 2-2 draw with Marden Russets.