Burgess Hill were totally outplayed by struggling Leatherhead and slumped to a crushing 4-0 defeat at Leylands Park.

The visitors were not flattered by the surprising scoreline but assistant manager Chris White, standing in for Gary Croydon who is abroad, said Hillians' young team would learn from the experience.

White admitted: "We were just outplayed. They were much sharper and stronger physically.

"There was a little bit of lack of competition and shape in the first half and their movement was very good.

"We've got a lot of youngsters. The good thing about youngsters is that they bounce back."

A pass through the middle by former Bognor and Crawley midfielder Steve Sargent created the Surrey side's opening goal after only two minutes. Wes Hamilton beat onrushing keeper Ian Chatfield to the ball and poked home from just inside the box.

If Hillians expected a rapid improvement to match their relatively lofty league position they were sadly mistaken as the first half was almost all one-way traffic towards the home goal.

Chatfield came out to the right edge of his area but failed to clear, allowing Harrison a curling shot from a tight angle that rebounded off a post.

With four changes to their keeper and back four since Saturday's FA Trophy win against Sittingbourne, Hillians struggled to hold the visitors at bay and it was no surprise when Dave Stevens doubled the deficit after 35 minutes.

A perfectly-timed tackle by Albion scholar Ben Fillery on Marc Charles-Smith prevented an almost certain third but it was a temporary reprieve as Stevens rounded Chatfield to make it 3-0 five minutes from half-time.

Leatherhead hit the woodwork twice more and hard-working striker Owen Callaghan cleared off the Hillians goal-line so the only surprise was that it took Hamilton until the final minute to complete the rout.

Burgess Hill: Chatfield, Smart (Watts 60), Edwards, Fillery, Killpartrick, Townsend, Harper, Cotton (Newman 65), Callaghan, Day, Pook (White 60). Unused subs: Webb, Soutar.

Badgers County League, division one: Eastbourne Town 3 (Loft 31, 42, Dallaway 75), Sidley 1 (Rose 55).

Division two: Mile Oak 2 (Carden 27, Curran 71), Lancing 1 (Burton 31).