Player-coach Ian Pattison refused to talk about promotion after East Grinstead's comprehensive 3-0 defeat of Lewes in National League division two.

Victory left Grinstead six points adrift of second place and a play-off spot but Pattison feels his team still have plenty of work to do after losing their previous two league games.

The next two matches away to teams above them in the table, Nottingham and Bath Buccaneers, could be a pointer to how Grinstead will do this season but Pattison is just keen to build on Sunday's win.

He said: "It was our most consistent performance and it was nice to keep a clean sheet as we have been conceding too many goals from short corners recently.

"However, given the number of chances we had, we really should have put the game beyond doubt by half time.

"We have two really tough games coming up, against Nottingham and Bath but I think we are heading in the right direction. We are playing better than we were at the start of the season."

As for promotion, he added: "We are in with a shout but our focus at the moment is to work on team and individual things."

Pattison picked out Gregor Eiden and Jamie Pearce for special mention but the whole midfield of Ben Payne, Duncan Howarth, Dominick Male and Eiden were impressive.

Payne opened the scoring on nine minutes following a good break by skipper Male and Mike Holland followed with a with a penalty corner goal two minutes later which was well struck and deflected in off the goalkeeper's pads.

Howarth wrapped up victory in the second half, finding space from midfield to beat the advancing goalkeeper.

While Grinstead celebrated, Lewes were left to reflect on a campaign which is not going to plan.

Lewes manager Paul Benoy said: "We just cannot get the ball in the back of the net. The game was very even between the 25-yard lines and if anything we were in control of the game better in that zone but they looked much more like scoring all the way through.

"It is disappointing because we would certainly have been level with them, perhaps ahead on goal difference, if we had beaten them. We will get our revenge in the return."

Chichester's South Premier League campaign suffered a major setback with a comprehensive 4-2 defeat away to Purley Walcountians.

A strong Purley team were allowed to dominate early on and by the time Chichester got their game together the home team's lead was insurmountable.

Strong tackling by Rob Pywell and the excellent Ian Dougal gave the visitors stability and goalkeeper Steve Jones was called into action on several occasions before a slick move left him with no chance from a strike from ten yards.

Five minutes later, Purley were 2-0 up from a superb short corner.

Chi began to compete in the second half with Sam Beere prompting some good moves but they were caught cold when Purley scored a penalty from a breakaway and then added another from a corner.

From this hopeless position Chichester decided to play and showed the kind of spirit they should have started the game with. First, Pendle combined with Henry Stremes to score and then Peter Turner scored with a brilliant penalty corner. Turner also hit the post with five minutes left but it was not enough.