Stuart Myall's first minute goal settled a close-fought Hastings derby in Town's favour despite a spirited second half fight-back from hosts St Leonards.

The burly midfielder escaped his marker to place a low volley into the back of the net from Danny Simmonds' corner and Hastings went on to dominate much of the first half in their Eastern Division clash.

Saints had the edge after half-time, but chances were few and far between as the defences of both teams remained largely on top.

St Leonards joint-manager Micky Taylor said: "We're disappointed because we felt we deserved something out of the game and the boys certainly represented the club very well.

"We perhaps gave them too much respect for the first 15 minutes but we gave the team a rocket at half-time and really in the second half there was only one side in it."

Many of the 857 strong crowd were still taking up their positions at The Firs when Myall gave his side the lead and bouyed by the goal, Town took control early on.

The pace and movement of Paul Jones and Danny Simmonds continually stretched the St Leonards defence but they never quite managed to break through.

Duncan McArthur, Simmonds and Paul Ruddy, with a rasping 30-yard effort, all failed to test Saints' stopper Rob Hall, while late in the half Simmonds hooked a ball over Hall but it came down on top of the crossbar and went behind.

The closest St Leonards came to a goal was when Tommy Osborne cleared Adam Flanagan's header off the line but the roles were reversed in the second half when a sweeping move from the back almost left Dominc Barclay with a tap-in, but the final ball fell just out of his reach.

Saints' best spell of the game saw them threaten again almost immediately and only a brave header from Steve Yates at the back post denied Venables.

Town keeper Shwan Jalal tipped over a fierce drive by Keith Miles, his opposite number beat out a shot from Osborne and, as the nerves of both sides began to fray, a dozen players got involved in a bout of pushing which resulted in four yellow cards.

Barclay was inches away from a mis-hit shot from Danny Moody which somehow bobbled through the defence, but Town hung on for three more points to keep themselves on the fringes of the promotion race.

Crawley were well beaten 3-0 by Premier Division leaders Margate at Hartsdown Park.

Reds got off to a poor start and after three Margate chances went begging the hosts found the net in the sixth minute when Jay Saunders' cross from the right was neatly finished by striker Leon Braithwaite.

Before that Phil Collins had been thwarted by the alert Andy Little in the Crawley goal while Graham Porter almost scrambled in a John Keister free kick.

Keister should have scored after Braithwaite got in round the back of a napping Reds defence and crossed, but he was unable to convert.

Margate continued to lay siege to the Crawley goal and on 12 minutes Lee Williams got the final touch to a corner but the ball went wide.

Paul Lamb also saw a fierce drive fly over the crossbar while in their first attempt on goal, Reds' striker Francis Vines saw his volley held by keeper Lee Turner.

The second half saw more invention from both sides with Reds introducing Nigel Brake and Dean Wordsworth for Dave Powell and Ian Payne.

On 59 minutes Luke Anderson's knee came to the rescue on the goal line, preventing Mark Munday from doubling the lead from a header.

Although Mark Hynes could have levelled for Crawley, Collins ended any hopes of a comeback by holding off Marc Pullan to make it 2-0 on 88 minutes. Collins' bullet header in the last minute rubbed salt into Reds' wounds.

Goals from John Snelgrove and Andrew Ducille gave Langney Sports a 2-1 win against Burnham in the Eastern Division at Priory Lane.

Manager Garry Wilson rested in-form striker Clinton Moore and replacement Ducille proved his worth with a first half goal.

Most of the first period was pretty uninspiring but was lit up by the skill of John Westcott.

The winger caused many problems on the right and one of his crosses was headed over by Ducille before he set up the opener on 39 minutes.

He beat two players on the right before crossing to skipper Darren Pearce.

His volley was superbly saved by Michael Bolger, but the ball only went as far as Ducille who slotted home.

After the break, Sports extended their lead on 53 minutes when Ducille headed down Matt Crabb's cross to Snelgrove who scored with a diving header.

After this, Burnham bombarded Langney with plenty of crosses and kept them under extreme pressure.

It paid off in the 66th minute when Rubin Howell fired home from 20 yards and Sports had to defend well after that to protect their lead.