Wormull hails Burgess Hill Town debutant and back four after Merstham win

Burgess Hill Town celebrate Ben Pope's goal in their 3-0 home win over Merstham 3-0 on Saturday. Picture by Chris Neal.

Burgess Hill Town boss Simon Wormull hailed the impact of new boy Keano Deacon and the back four, as the Hillians moved out of the Bostik Premier relegation zone with a 3-0 home victory over Merstham on Saturday.

Hill opened the scoring through James Richmond before late second half strikes from Ben Pope and debutant Deacon sealed the win for the Green Elephants Stadium-outfit.

Wormull said: “We didn’t play particularly well first half. We showed them too much respect and with a bit of luck we went 1-0 up. Second half I thought we really took the game to them. I think we deserved the win.

Ben Pope's stunning free-kick saw Burgess Hill Town go 2-0 up in their 3-0 win over Merstham on Saturday. Picture by Chris Neal.

“We’ve got Keano Deacon and he scored on his debut and did well. I also think the back four were excellent on Saturday. People like Gary Elphick and Josh James were outstanding and kept us in the game.”

Simon Wormull made three changes to the side who lost 1-0 to Kingstonian last Saturday, with new signings; defender Dan Choules, midfielder Brian Galach and striker Deacon all handed their Hillians debuts.

Merstham started brightly, striking the post in the 15th minute, as Harry Osborne’s cross deceived everyone. In the 23rd minute, Walter Figueira’s snapshot rebounded back off James’ right-hand post, with the forward just managing to beat the offside trap, before Galach’s attempt was blocked by a Merstham defender.

Debutant Keano Deacon slid home the third for Burgess Hill Town against Merstham on Saturday. Picture by Chris Neal.