Peacehaven are ready to push Whitehawk all the way for the County League title.

Joint-boss Peter Edwards believes his young side are on the verge of something special after claiming their first major piece of silverware for 13 years.

They romped to a 5-0 win over ten-man Crawley Down to claim the John O’Hara League Cup at Shoreham yesterday.

Peacehaven also have a Sussex RUR Cup final against Wick to look forward to at the end of the month and Edwards has not written off an unlikely treble.

Having been promoted from division two last season, his side are currently third, five points behind leaders Whitehawk, who have a game in hand. They have six games left starting with a visit of the leaders on Monday.

Edwards was manager of Peacehaven during the 1990s when they were one of the dominant forces of Sussex non-league football.

During that period they won the County League title on four occasions and the league cup twice as well as reaching the quarter-final of the FA Vase and Edwards believes the good times are on the way back to Piddinghoe Avenue.

He said: “This is just the start of things if you look at the players we have got here, the age of them and how they have improved this season.

“I see no reason why we can’t return to those good times. I believe they have started already.

“This result can spur us on to win another two things if we want. We have another cup final which we won’t think about now for another three or four weeks and we have six very hard away games in the league. If we play like we have all season away from home there is no reason why we can’t win them all.

“The title race is not over. We are absolutely ready to push Whitehawk. We have got to hang on to their shirt-tails and see where we go from there. It starts on Monday.”

Crawley Down started well and were denied a third-minute opener when Joe Adams produced a super save from Jamahl King but, sadly for them, that was as good as it got.

They were already behind to Tom Burton’s header from an Andy Wilkinson corner in the 11th minute when goalkeeper Shayne Goldsmith was controversially sent off just before the half-hour for handling Tom Levitt’s shot outside the penalty area.

Goldsmith claimed, with some justification, that the ball had struck his chest but referee Lloyd Rendell brandished the red card and the Anvils were up against it thereafter.

In fact, they completely fell apart as Peacehaven assumed total control on a Shoreham pitch which held up pretty well despite a constant downpour.

The goals also rained in, starting five minutes before the break when Levitt guided a header into the corner of the net from an excellent Wilkinson cross from the left.

Wilkinson headed against the inside of the far post two minutes into the second half before laying on the third a minute later when Rob O’Toole headed his corner goalwards and Burton fired home his second of the game from close range.

Levitt also got his second with a simple finish on 64 minutes before both two-goal marksmen were withdrawn but there was still time for a fifth goal from fully 65 yards when a Wes Millis free-kick from inside his own half bounced over Crawley Down’s young replacement keeper Rob Hitchcock.

Edwards allowed joint-boss Terry Hall to collect the manager’s medal after while skipper Ashley Jones lifted the trophy. Clive Snell picked up the man-of-the-match vote although Wilkinson must have run him close.

It was a disappointing day for Crawley Down in their first major final, particularly the manner of the defeat with the sending off, but boss Darren Guirey is still delighted with the season.

Former Peacehaven boss Guirey said: “I don’t think it was a sending off. If you look at the shirt you can clearly see the patch of ball on the chest. It was very harsh and it killed us. Having said that I thought we rolled over after the decision.

“But we have had a terrific season. We have come a long way in our first season up. We are disappointed with the way this went but we will take the positives out of it and push.”

Peacehaven: Adams; Hall, Jones, Millis, Hill; Newman, Burton (sub Rees 70), Snell, Wilkinson; O’Toole (sub Saunders 57), Levitt (sub Smith 74). Subs not used: Whitehead, Buss.

Crawley Down: Goldsmith; Ethertington, King, M'baye (sub Powell 67), Harding; McGibbon, Beeston, Butcher (sub D.Sullivan 69), Wood (sub Hitchock 29); Reid, Cane. Subs not used: Upton, Ranson.

Referee: Lloyd Rendell.

Attendance: 338.