Brighton and Hove turned on the style to end their fears of relegation.

A thumping 8-0 win at home to bottom side City of Portsmouth secured Brighton's South Premier division one status for another season.

Player-coach Craig Carolan said he did not really believe Brighton would go down but a run of five successive defeats had left them looking over their shoulders at the bottom two.

Having elected to go largely with younger, home-grown players this year, it was always going to be a season of slow progress for a club that has enjoyed so much success in recent times.

Carolan's target was comfortable survival and development of the youngsters and both have now been achieved.

He said: "This was always going to be a year of transition and I am pleased with what we have achieved.

"You are always concerned about what could happen mathematically but I didn't think it would come down to that.

"Our target now is to finish in the top six. That would be really nice.

"The boys played well on Saturday. We had a game-plan and they did all we asked them to do."

Dan Hoare, a player who has stepped up from the seconds this year, broke his duck for the season in style by scoring a hat-trick. Carolan also scored three - his first goals following eight weeks out with a serious shoulder injury - and Sam Rose got the other two.

Lewes lost 1-0 at home to promotion chasing Ashford and remain four points above the bottom two with two matches to play. However, with their final game against City of Portsmouth they should have no worries about going down.

Chichester's target for the season was initially about survival following promotion last year. However, with two games left they lead a thrilling three-way battle for the title.

Chi are a point ahead of Ashford and three clear of Sevenoaks, who have a game in hand. The crunch match is this Saturday when they host Sevenoaks in a winner-takes-all clash.

Victory for Chi would leave them needing to win their final game against Purley to claim the sole promotion place to the National League, defeat would leave Sevenoaks in the driving seat while a draw would let in Ashford.

Player-coach Ben Barnes said: "These are the three teams who have showed the real desire to play in the National League, although it is a year earlier than I expected at Chichester. With two games to go it is a case of who has got the nerve.

"For us it is six points or nothing from our last two games. We are expecting a big crowd and whatever happens we are going to enjoy it."

Barnes opened the scoring from a short corner after just two minutes away to Spencer (Wandsworth) and when Will Blockley scored a second from open play midway through the half a watching Sevenoaks contingent decided they had seen enough. Barnes scored a second after the interval to complete a 3-0 win and other chances went begging as Chi dominated.

In the Kent/Sussex Regional League, Eastbourne's promotion hopes all but ended after losing 3-2 away to second from bottom Burnt Ash. Goals from Matt Copping and Ragheb Aga proved to be in vain.

Cerdic Atkinson put Worthing ahead early in the second half away to Folkestone but they ended up losing 4-2. Dan Lock got their other goal.

Horsham returned to winning ways with a 3-1 success at Tunbridge Wells.

In division one, Crawley's run of five successive wins ended as they lost 3-1 away to second-placed Marden Russets despite a goal from Dan Evans.

Will Aldous (two) and Dave Matthews scored for Penguin as they beat Bexley Invicta 3-2 to move above Crawley into fourth spot.

Toby Reed and Pete Burton netted for South Saxons in a 2-0 win over New Beccehamian but Southwick went down 1-0 to leaders Old Bordenians and Mid Sussex were edged out 5-4 by Kings College London.

Hailsham's minus goal difference reached three figures as they lost 9-0 at Gillingham Anchorians.