Brighton and Hove's survival hopes were given a big boost as they won 4-0 at home to Purley Walcountians.

Victory lifted Brighton out of the bottom four in South Premier division one and up to sixth from bottom with three games remaining.

They are still far from safe as six points separate six clubs in the battle to stay up.

Brighton are now four points clear of the bottom two, who are sure to go down, and two points clear of the teams third and fourth from bottom, who could also be relegated.

Andrew Acott (two), Simon Turner, with his first goal since rejoining from Old Georgians, and Gareth Lendrum were the scorers in an excellent team display.

Captain Luke Williams said: "This week we go to Richmond, who are now third from bottom, and if we could get three points there I am confident one point from our remaining two home games would be enough to keep us up."

Rock-bottom Lewes, who are already relegated, lost 6-2 away to leaders Fareham despite goals from Matt Rickson and Pete Thomas.

Chichester consolidated second place with a 4-3 win at Spencer (Wandsworth) on Saturday followed by a 2-2 draw at Staines on Sunday.

Ben Barnes and man-of-the-match Jack Lerwill hit two apiece on Saturday, then Richard Blakesley and Will Blockley scored on Sunday when Chi included debutants Tom Coppin, Matt Cox and Simon Taylor.

In the Kent/Sussex Regional League, Worthing secured a play-off spot after a 1-1 draw at Sutton Valence guaranteed them second place. Top scorer Bryan Lock netted from a short corner.

They will now be involved in a round-robin play-off against three other teams at Haslemere Hockey Club at the end of April.

Mike Cosma and Dan Williams scored as Eastbourne lost 3-2 at home to Tunbridge Wells while Horsham went down by the same scoreline to Blackheath.

In division one, Marc Livesley and Hayden James scored hat-tricks as Mid Sussex beat Southwick 6-2.

Dave Matthews (two), Chris Simmonds, Neil Watkins and Rupert Ireland got the goals as Penguin beat New Beccehamian 5-0 but Crawley's promotion hopes suffered as they lost 2-0 away to leaders Kings College London.