Pagham cannot win the County League title, according to their own manager. Richie Reynolds says his team are "physically and mentally destroyed."

Pagham have been among the front-runners all season, but lost 3-0 at home to title rivals Hassocks on Saturday.

Reynolds said: "Everyone has a bad spell and hopefully we can come out of it. But I don't think we have a chance of the title now because of our injury situation and the run-in, which includes seven local derbies to come."

Reynolds has eight first team regulars injured or playing on with injuries.

But he believes the agony of dramatic exits in the Sussex Senior Cup and John O'Hara League Cup have also taken their toll.

He said: "My players were mentally and physically destroyed by the two extra-time defeats we had in the cups against Bognor and then Sidley.

"They are all young kids and they could not handle the pressure of four big games in a 14-day period.

They lost the games in extra-time, played Burgess Hill in between and by the time they met Hassocks were gone.

"This is going to take some getting over and I don't know, at their age, whether they have the character to do that. I am about to find out now."

While Pagham have stuttered in recent weeks, two less fancied teams have moved into contention.

Hassocks and Sidley are poised to gatecrash the title party, although Robins boss Dave John is playing down his side's chances. He said: "We have just escaped relegation again for another year!

"We're not one of the fashionable teams. We don't pay our players and we don't have any stars.

"There are 18 games left and we will try like hell and maybe with four or fives games left if we are still in this sort of position we shall talk about the title."

Sidley, with four games in hand on leaders Burgess Hill, are on course for their best finish for decades.

Boss Dickie Day said: "If we win all of our games from now on, we will win the league. But that is not going to happen.

"We won't rule ourselves out of the title but realistically we only have an outside chance. We are busy doing our thing and hope other sides slip. Pagham are going to take some stopping, but so are Hassocks."