Chichester boss Adie Girdler hopes Whitehawk win the FA Vase – because it will improve their own title hopes.

City went back to the top by three points after a 4-0 home win over Lingfield although Hawks do have five games in hand.

Girdler said: “I hope Whitehawk win the Vase. It would great for the County League and a fantastic achievement for them as a club but it might help us as well because they have a lot of games to play.

“All we can do is keep digging out results and keeping the pressure on. The conditions didn’t suit us on Saturday but I was pleased with how we played.”

Chichester’s goals came from Callum Cutler (two), Shawn Benjamin and James Temple.

Crowborough continued their climb away from trouble after Charlie Ottway’s second-half strike from close range earned them a 1-0 win at Mile Oak, who played for 70 minutes with ten men.

Crows have now won six of their last seven games since Dave Adams took charge and are five points clear of the bottom three.

Adams said: “It wasn’t a classic but we will take the points.

“I know a lot of the teams below us have games in hand but we would rather have points on the board than be playing three games a week at the end of the season as some teams will because of the weather.”

East Grinstead remain bottom after Tony Beckingham’s first game in charge ended with a 3-2 defeat at Selsey, their sixth loss in the last seven matches.

But after seeing his side move into ninth place thanks to goals from Andy Brown, Matt Collino and Lewis Hamilton, Selsey boss Gary Block predicted that the Wasps would get away from trouble.

He said: “We have played a lot of teams near the bottom recently and not always got results but they are the best side we have played of the struggling teams and I think they will get out of it.”

Mark Lee’s own goal and Michael Belli, with his first of the season, netted for Grinstead.

Three Bridges are eighth after winning 2-0 at Peacehaven while Eastbourne United bounced back from last week’s 6-0 mauling at Arundel with a pleasing 2-0 home success over Hassocks.

Boss Brian Dennis made seven changes and saw his decision justified as Steve Dallaway and Simon Stevens, who also hit the bar, found the target.

Dennis said: “I asked for a response after last week and was delighted with how we played. We should have won by more goals but it was important to show some character after the Arundel result.”

Ringmer are still in the bottom two after sharing four goals with Redhill who scored twice in the last ten minutes to rescue a point with goals from new signing Tyrone Sealey.

The games at Hailsham and Crawley Down were postponed along with Wick’s RUR Cup tie against Shoreham.