Trevor Waller claims he was sacked as manager of Littlehampton because he dropped veteran defender Gary Young.

Waller was axed after the Marigolds suffered a third consecutive defeat when they went down 2-0 at Mile Oak.

He leaves the club fifth in the table, eight points behind the promotion places, and in the semi-finals of the Division Two Cup.

Waller said: "The reason I have been sacked is because I dropped Gary Young. He is a mate of the president Andy Taylor and had a moan and ultimately that's what did it.

"Gary is 42-years-old and was not playing well so I decided to play someone else. It is outrageous.

"We were having a bit of a blip but we are still in contention for promotion and we're in the semi-finals so it is not too bad.

"The problem is, the committee think Littlehampton is a big club but compared to others, they are nowhere near.

"We didn't have any budget and I was having to run the reserves as well as the first team without any help from the committee, so I'm probably best out of it."

Chairman Neil Taylor said: "There was an opinion with certain committee members that perhaps that (dropping Young) was not the wisest move he could have made.

"But football is all about different opinions and this was not an overnight decision. We could not fault Trevor for his enthusiasm but it was not happening on the pitch.

"We have lost the last two games to teams you would expect to beat and unfortunately it is always the manager who gets the rough end of the stick."

Steve Porter and Tony Burnett scored the goals for Mile Oak, who moved level on points with Marigolds.

Leaders East Grinstead won for the first time in three games after beating Crawley Down 4-1 with goals from Michael Belli (2), Liam Bull and Tobi Hutchinson. Adam New was on target for Down.

Second-placed Rustington were held to a goalless stalemate at Wealden, who were playing their first game under new caretaker manager Steve Richardson.

James Holland, Sam McCarthy and Danny Jones ensured Lingfield maintained their title push with a 3-1 victory at Peacehaven, who replied through Richard Watton.

Sidlesham heaped more misery on bottom club Pease Pottage after running out 7-0 winners. Joseph Briggs scored four and Will Rolls, Steve Silvester and Max Delahunty completed the rout.

Seaford eased their relegation concerns after Tom Callaghan netted the only goal against Midhurst.

Southwick continued their revival with a 3-1 triumph over Broadbridge Heath thanks to Dean Venton (2) and Chris Bowyer. Nick Humble scored for Heath.

Goals from Nick Green and Sean Hourigan helped Steyning draw 2-2 against Westfield, who twice went ahead through Peter Baker.