Brighton and Hove will go into the final game of the season needing a win to be guaranteed survival.

A 3-2 reverse at home to Staines on Saturday means they are not safe from relegation from South Premier division one.

They may be in the top half of the table but just one point separates five sides battling to stay up.

Two teams are certainly relegated and up to two more could also go down which means Brighton need to beat Oxford Hawks, who are third from bottom, in the last game on Saturday week.

Although Brighton have six teams below them, Oxford would move above them should they win while Ashford and Maidstone have winnable games against the bottom two, Lewes and Richmond, in the final round of fixtures.

Purley Walcountians, who are the other team in the equation, finish at home to Spencer (Wandsworth), who have nothing left to play for.

Brighton goalkeeper Neil Burlinson said: "We are working on the assumption that it is three going down but it could be four so we need something out of our last game so that the four teams a point behind don't move above us.

"The good thing is we go into every game now thinking we can get something out of it. There is confidence in the team which was lacking when we had that poor run before Christmas."

Andrew Acott put Brighton ahead just before half-time but they were trailing 3-1 by the time Robbie Guthrie hit a late second.

Burlinson added: "It was a careless performance. We were 1-0 up at half-time but we gave away three goals in the second half.

"We know now we cannot afford to lose against Oxford Hawks."

Chichester won 7-1 away to Oxford Hawks which means they are guaranteed second place.

They came from behind to win with goals from Andy Sparshott, Ben Barnes, man-of-the-match Gerald Cox, Sam Beere, Richard Blakesley, Will Blockley and James Lunn.

Player-coach Barnes said: "We passed them off the pitch. It was a really good team performance and our best two players were two teenagers, Gerald Cox and Tom Coppin, which was pleasing."

Lewes, who are already relegated, lost 4-1 away to Spencer (Wandsworth) to remain 12 points adrift at the bottom of the table..

Worthing warmed up for the play-offs with a 6-2 win at Horsham in the Kent/Sussex Regional League.

They are already guaranteed second place which means they will complete with three other teams at Haslemere Hockey Club in May for a place in South Premier division one.

Bryan Lock scored a hat-trick for Worthing with Alex Warner, Matt Ansell and Callum Fairclough getting the others. Darren James and John Burroughs replied for Horsham.

Rob Cornell (two), Dan Williams (two) and Matt Veitch were on target as Eastbourne continued their good form with a 5-0 win at Sutton Valence.

In division one, skipper Marc Livesley scored his 30th league goal of the season as fourth-placed Mid Sussex won 4-2 away to Penguin.

Livesley, who has also scored three times in the cup, converted two penalty strokes while Jez Subedar and Matt Hough were also on target. Neil Watkins and Stuart McConachie replied for the hosts.

Mids have now completed their league promotion but still have a Sussex Plate semi-final away to South Saxons to look forward to.

South Saxons beat New Beccehamian 6-1 with goals from John Morgan (two), Jamie Busbridge (two), Aston Spinks and Danny Burnett.

Crawley's promotion hopes are over but they cemented third place in the table with a 4-4 draw away to Southwick.

Kieran Fuller (two), Steve Innes and Dave Orpin were the scorers as Crawley came from behind on three occasions in the first half before conceding a second-half lead.

l Horsham Ladies scored a vital win in their quest to avoid having to face a relegation play-off.

Goals from Siobhan Aherne and Fran Crossley helped Horsham come from behind to win 2-1 at Taunton Vale, which kept them fourth from bottom.

Taunton Vale are one of two teams already relegated. Firebrands are currently third from bottom, which means a play-off, but are only two points behind Horsham who have home games against Exe and Sevenoaks