Burgess Hill went a long way to erasing the memory of a 4-0 Boxing Day drubbing by Horsham YMCA with what was almost an equally emphatic 3-0 division one south victory at Gorings Mead.

Manager Gary Croydon would have been sorry to miss it but he was in regular telephone contact and the news he would have been getting was encouraging almost from the word go.

The visitors went in front after only three minutes when Ashley Jarvis laid the ball off for Lloyd Skinner who took a touch before driving a shot low past Dean Ruddy's left hand.

It was 2-0 on 26 minutes when a back-pass by Glen Woodburn caught Ruddy short and Jarvis beat the keeper before shepherding the ball over the line.

Even the loss of Skinner and skipper Shaun Grice with injuries either side of half-time failed to knock Hillians out of their stride and substitute James Martin took just three minutes to score his first senior goal on 53 minutes.

YM tried to shake things up with a couple of substitutes but Hillians keeper Andre Foster did not have to make a meaningful save and the visitors would have reversed the Christmas scoreline had leading scorer Jarvis not missed a one-on-one before the third goal.

Hastings United missed the chance to go top of the table when they were beaten 2-1 by Dover Athletic.

Hastings went into the match knowing a win would have been good enough to leapfrog leaders Maidstone United who could only draw with Sittingbourne in an earlier kick-off.

But it was play-off hopefuls Dover who took the game by the scruff of the neck by scoring twice in the opening 23 minutes.

Craig Wilkins grabbed the first on 12 minutes with a flicked header from a long throw and Craig Cloke headed home the second from close range.

Ade Olorunda halved the deficit with a scrambled effort 11 minutes after the restart but it was not enough.