A much improved second-half performance and a hat-trick of penalty corners from Joe Naughalty were not enough to prevent Brighton and Hove going down to a 4-3 defeat at home to Oxted at Blatchington on Sunday in the MHL Conference East.

In an open game Oxted raced into a two-goal lead inside nine minutes through open play goals from Chris Webber and Max Gilbert but Welsh international Naughalty hit back twice from penalty corners to level. However, Oxted's Timothy Guise-Brown rattled in two short corners in two minutes to give the visitors a 4-2 half time lead.

Brighton came out strongly for the second half, attacking hard and dominating play, and when Naughalty converted another corner - his 14th league goal of the season - they had 20 minutes to find an equaliser. Several chances came and went with Adam Flett pressing high up the pitch and Agustin Cellini making inroads on the right. Three Oxted players saw yellow as the pressure mounted late on but the visitors held on for the points.

Brighton face a crucial match with improving Richmond at Blatchington on Sunday (March 17) at 1pm, with the teams separated by one point. The battle for the last two places in the top six - which determine which league the team will play in next season - has intensified with six teams covered by just five points with three games left.

Richmond's five wins have come in their last eight games, most recently a 3-1 success over Southgate, while City of Peterborough are mounting a late charge, their 3-2 win over Teddington being their second in a row. Bottom of the table Cambridge City and Old Loughtonians both lost at the weekend, to Canterbury and Old Georgians respectively.

A 2-0 defeat at home to Worthing 1s confirmed that the 2s will finish bottom of the Kent/Sussex Regional League.

In Sussex League division one leaders Eastbourne 2s lost top spot despite winning 2-1 against Brighton 3s as their title rivals Crawley 1s hammered Crowborough 10-0 to go top narrowly on goal difference.

The 4s jumped above their opponents South Saxons 2 with a disciplined performance in a 2-1 win at Blatchington, which pleased captain Carlo Missirian.

"The 4s entered this game determined to execute a disciplined and high tempo performance," he reports. "In the first five minutes the 4s won a short corner and, straight after, a penalty stroke which Hidi converted. Whilst the 4s did generate breakaway opportunities South Saxons took control and despite them winning a number of short corners the defence held firm to get to half time 1-0 up.

"In regrouping the 4s resolved to press the opposition, retain possession and let Saxons' frustration get the better of them. The 4s again started brightly, playing at a faster pace with the game finely balanced. Within a 10 minute period the 4s won a number of short corners and from one of those a slick move via Simon's far post shot, Adey converted. This resulted in South Saxons pressing forward leaving themselves open to the counter attack - the frustration we felt could happen suddenly occurred. The opposition were disgruntled with some of the umpiring resulted in them imploding with two players off at one point.

"Chances were missed to go 3-0 up which resulted in a mad last two minutes - the idea of running down the clock in the bottom corner of South Saxons was rejected by us and Saxons managed a scrappy breakaway goal. With a minute left the 4s were a little rattled and, sure enough, conceded a short corner at the final whistle. Thankfully Pixie held firm and produced a man of the match display. Dan,a rock in the centre of defence, had been less worried as he thought we were winning 3-1 when defending the last short corner. Three points gratefully received through disciplined hockey and a little luck.

In division two the 5s celebrated their 4-3 win over Worthing 4s on the train back to Brighton and late into the night as is traditional for the final away fixture of the season.

Skipper Ramzy Omran reports: "Another fine display by the 5s. Missing Bunny, Jamie and Sim we travelled to Angmering on the train. The game started brightly with Jonno scoring inside 10 minutes, a tap in after fine work by Phil and Kylie. Fine work by Phil resulted in an easy tap in for Jonno, his second of the game. Worthing brought one back with a goal which shouldn’t have counted; a clear foot with the umpire insisting that it hit the Worthing player’s stick. Hockey!

"Club top scorer Nicholls was surprisingly in the right place to bumble home a instinctive top corner flick. A rousing half time team talk from Ramzy drove home the importance of a win today and galvanised some tired players. Worthing reduced the deficit to one goal - no one can remember how the goal occurred.

"Brighton broke from halfway with intent, Jonno slipped the ball through to the in form Nicholls who drove a first time strike past the onrushing goalkeeper with trade mark composure. The opposition's faces visibly drained in the face of the inevitable. 4-2. Worthing ensured the last 30 seconds were frantic as they pulled back to 4-3 but the side held solid to go six points clear in second place with two games to go.

"We are now on the 5s last away game spectacular train ride home ..."

In division three, the 6s edged out South Saxons 4s by the only goal while in division four, the 8s faded after a bright start and went down 2-0 at home to Crawley 4s.

Matt Sale reports: "The 8s started brightly, however were unable to convert a number of chances and PCs. Crawley scored from their first PC of the game and they scored another from a PC in the second half. Try as they might the 8s didn't have enough quality in the final third to get back into the game."