Chichester City United manager Adie Girdler is being put in a difficult position by his own team.

He is desperate not to talk about United as future County League champions but has been left with no choice because they are playing so well.

Chi looked every inch like title contenders when they extended their lead at the top of division one to five points after outplaying third placed Eastbourne Town.

The result means United are the only club in any division to remain unbeaten in the league this season.

But Girdler is trying to keep quiet, even though his side have made one of their best starts since they last won the title 23 years ago.

He said: "I'm not going to talk about winning the title or anything like that, I'm just taking it a step at a time.

"In the summer we split the season into four quarters of ten games and we have done well in the first one but to be honest we are doing better than we thought we were going to do."

Chichester have taken on the mantle of the side to beat left by Burgess Hill who graduated to the Dr Martens League following five title wins in seven years.

Girdler is refusing to compare his side with the current champions but admits he is looking to emulate the Hillians once plans for a new ground are approved.

Chichester merged with fellow County League team Portfield three years ago and now own two grounds. They hope to sell Church Road, once home of Portfield, and build a brand new ground at Chi's former pitch at Oaklands Park. A meeting next month with Chichester City Council should rubberstamp the plan.

Girdler said: "At the moment we are the young pretenders compared to Burgess Hill because they were successful for a number of seasons and we have only done it for a quarter of a season.

"The club is ambitious and we would like to go on from the County League but that is dependent on whether the new ground is ready in time. That is the next step that we are working towards."

Girdler has already built a team capable of making the next step as the performance against Eastbourne proved. There only looked one winner once Jamie Laidlaw had headed home his third goal in as many games on 15 minutes from a superb cross by Neil Murfin.

Chi dominated the first half and Tony Stephens doubled the lead on 35 minutes with a neat turn and shot on the penalty spot which went in off the far post.

It took just three minutes of the second half for the visitors to make the game safe. Laidlaw saw a header pushed round the post by Mark Oldroyd but from the resulting corner Ben Hitchman was on hand to blast in from six yards.

Girdler puts his side's success this season down to the introduction of an under-18s team at the club five years ago.

Seven of the players in the squad against Eastbourne were graduates of the team.

Girdler added: "We are not a club who can spend money on bringing players in so we made a decision to have a strong youth set-up. Add to that the three experienced players who are in their fourth year at the club and you get foundations which are solid rather than built on sand."

One of those experienced players is captain Paul Thomas who believes the current side is good enough to maintain their impressive start to the season.

He said: "This is probably the best team I have played in since I've come here. We all get on and have a laugh but you can see when we go on the pitch that we all want to win and I don't see why we can't keep on winning."

Town's consolation goal came from a penalty converted by Gary Brockwell after Bobby Godfrey had been tripped in the box.

Town were without top scorer Yemi Odubade with a wrist injury but manager Dave Winterton had no excuses for the defeat.

Eastbourne have been the surprise team since they were promoted as runners-up from division two last season. They had lost only once in the previous eight league games and many had tipped them as outsiders for the title.

Winterton, however, insists calling his side title contenders is premature and believes their early season honeymoon is now over.

He said: "We were beaten by a far better side, it was as simple as that. They worked hard and shut down quickly which was everything we didn't do.

"I have thought all along that we are in a false position. We have done well and we were good enough to come up, but against some of the better sides we are not up for it yet."

Eastbourne: Oldroyd, Reeve (Bywater 81), Harris (Ottley 30), Fuller, Cumming, Callingham, Walsh, Manton (Godfrey 46), Brockwell, Davidson, Holman.

Chichester: Preston, Hardwell, Jackson, Hitchman, Jones (Moore 24), Belal (Cereed 82), Stephens, Thomas, N. Murphin, Laidlaw (S. Murphin 85), Stimpson.

Referee: P. Saunders (Hove).

Attendance: 281.

Man-of-the-match: Russell Hardwell (Chi).