Brighton moved to the top of the Kent/Sussex Regional League for the first time this season with an emphatic 6-0 victory over Crawley.

Previous leaders Holcombe could only draw 1-1 with high-flyers Herne Bay, who play Brighton this week, and Carlo Missirian's men now have it within their their own hands to win the championship.

Skipper Missirian said: "We are ecstatic to be top of the table. It is very pleasing especially as we didn't have either of our two Egyptians and any fears that our squad is not strong enough without them were quashed.

"It proves that the team is bigger than those two guys but they just add to it."

He added: "All our winning performances have come from the basis of a strong defence. The last time we played Crawley we beat them 8-2 but they got a couple of goals and created a number of chances. This time we kept a clean sheet and our hard work over Christmas has paid off."

Brighton trained over the Christmas break and clinical finishing from Dickie Love (2), Dave Delea, Graham Pruce, Missirian and Simon Warringer, coupled with their stingy defence, steered them to the win. Missirian said: "We have got aspirations to win the title and it would have been silly of us not to train over Christmas, although, there was some partying too."

New signing Zimbawean Elvis Brown played up front for Brighton and had an impressive first team debut.

Horsham keeper Neil Burlinson blamed his side's defeatist attitude for their "embarrassing" 6-2 home loss against Ashford.

Burlinson said: "It was an embarrassing result. It was already in the players' mindset that because they had not played or trained for four weeks they could not play well.

"If players have the right attitude then they can still play well but the team had the wrong attitude from the start."

Horsham were 4-0 down within 25 minutes and two further second-half goals rubbed in the defeat as Cerdic Atkinson and Richard Charlesworth grabbed the consolations.

Worthing were hoping for a change of luck this year but the story remains the same as they slipped to a 2-1 defeat at Gilliingham Anchorians as sides around them picked up points.

Gillingham took the lead when one of their players ran the length of the field to score but skipper Simon Holloway equalised with a shot from the top of the D following a challenge by Rex Fuller. A flare-up saw Worthing's David Clayton and a Gillingham player sent off and while they were off the field the hosts grabbed the winner with a shot which looped in off the keeper's pads.

Holloway said: "It was like the last game between us. We had the majority of possession and chances and feel a bit cheated."

With Worthing just third from bottom, he added: "We have Old Williamsonians coming up soon which should be a good game. We need the points though as we don't want to be caught in a relegation battle. Hopefully it will all come together soon."