Lancing's Jamie Cole and Neil Richardson handed out a warning to their rivals as they opened the new year with a devastating display of attacking football.

The County League division two match Culver Road match was the only game in Sussex to beat the freeze yesterday, and Lancing's attacking duo showed no signs of any hangovers as they helped their team to an unassailable 3-0 advantage at the break.

Lancing took the lead in the 17th minute as Ryan Ford played the ball down the line to Richardson who span away from his marker and found Glen Souter, whose first time shot from the right hand edge of the box flew past Ashley Walker into the net.

The home team's skipper Martin Gray limped off on 22 minutes with an injured knee but Lancing continued on the offensive.

When Cole's shot ricocheted to Richardson in the 35th minute he doubled the lead as he turned to drill a low right foot shot past Walker.

Cole netted a minute before half time when Walker could only push his left foot shot from 25 yards on to the bar and it bounced over the line for his ninth goal of the season.

The strike sparked an unusual celebration from the pair as the pals mimicked a gesture of Nicholas Cage from the movie 'Gone in 60 Seconds'.

Richardson said: "We have played together for a couple of years and it works quite well. I am meant to win the headers and he uses his pace.

"It was a good win for us and we have closed a bit of ground on the leaders.

"We have a few games in hand and we want promotion."

After the re-start Lancing defender Tony Miles headed over from Ford's corner when it looked easier to score and Mile Oak spurned several chances to get back into the game.

Ivan Mainprize shot over, substitute Sam Miller shot across the face of the goal, and the visitors' skipper Steve Porter headed against an upright.

Oak did eventually pull a goal back though when Dave Ayres curled in a low left foot shot in injury time.

The visitors' boss Mark Cox was pleased with side's spirited second half performance.

He said: "We struggle when we go behind but at least we proved we have a bit of character about us.

"In the last 20 minutes we looked like scoring and we were the better team. We were missing a couple of players but we had enough out there to get a result."