Whitehawk can start planning for a brighter future.

That is the message from manager Steve Richardson after the Hawks escaped the drop from the top flight of County League football.

It was an agonising finale to the season. Having finished their fixtures fourth from bottom, Hawks knew Eastbourne Town could overhaul them if they won their remaining two fixtures with a plus-six goal margin.

Town won the first match 7-0 against Ringmer but then lost 1-0 at Sidlesham last Saturday.

Richardson, who was at both games, said: "I went to Ringmer and I was gutted because they got seven goals. They needed to win both games by a good margin. I expected them to win at Ringmer but not 7-0.

"Now I know the situation with us staying up I can sit down with Paul Hubbard (chairman) and look at what we are going to do next year.

"I have one or two things in the pipeline and we will go from there.

"The main thing for us was that we had to stay up in order to do the things we want to do."

While Richardson was delighted to avoid relegation, there was certainly no gloating towards the teams going down.

He added: "I feel sorry for Eastbourne Town and the others who went down because they have worked so hard, the same as we did.

"If you look at Lancing, Eastbourne Town, ourselves and Littlehampton, in the last eight weeks we must have been the most consistent sides in the league."

Alan Pook has paid tribute to Stan Hunt, a Withdean 2000 official who died last weekend.

Pook, one of the most successful managers in Sussex football, said: "He is a sad loss to his family, to football and to all his friends. I don't think anybody could speak about Stan in anything but glowing terms."