On the Dragons 30th Anniversary season when Wet Wet Wet were number one with “Love is all around”, unfortunately not everyone got the message. This was the Dragons first game back in the SCFL for three years, after promotion last season.

It was clear both teams were looking to get off to a winning start after some crunching tackles in the first few minutes. Rustington were playing a high line and were harassing the Dragons into rushing their passing game out from the back.

On National Lazy Day, the Blues didn’t get the message and were buzzing around the pitch with quality coming through the midfielder, Liam Reynolds.

On the 13th minute, Shipley hit the post and following corner caused an almighty scramble on the goal line, the home team thought they were one up. Unfortunately for them, it wasn’t given and the blues attacked down the right. The ball was squared to captain fantastic, Chris Darwin, who turned the defender and smashed it in.

On the 24th minute, the blues doubled their lead with an incredible overhead kick from Sam Boyd. The Dragons were competitive but looked dazed when they found themselves two down.

It got worse for the home side when Darwin latched onto a limp back pass and slotted home past the helpless Rob Woodward.

The newly promoted team didn’t throw the towel in and kept attacking. This time they did find the back of the net, the ball was squared into the box and Adam tapped it home on the 38th minute.

Unfortunately it didn’t get any better for the Dragons at their delightful hospitable ground. Their efforts and hard work were not rewarded and it was the blues who scored the next goal. 4-1 after a twenty five yard free kick sailed into the goal after 70 minutes via Jordan Clarke’s strike.

Then it was down to the captain to finish off the goal bonanza with a lovely finish after a contentious tackle. Darwin completed his hat trick and it was well deserved in the Sussex sun.

A cracking game in Division Two which left the 50+ crowd entertained and with the Dragons management team a lot to think about.