Croydon Athletic certainly had a festive season of cheer by recording five wins in December, and moving from 12th to third position in division three.

They beat Lewes on bank holiday Monday 1-0 at home and on Saturday, December 19, they comprehensively beat Dorking 5-1 away.

The game against Lewes saw Croydon Athletic (CA) without five regular players and having to call up younger players and promising reserve team players.

Micky Taylor, manager of CA said: "I was proud of the younger players that we called upon at such short notice. They did a remarkable job for the club."

CA started off brightly and Johnny Fowler should have scored as early as the fourth minute, but was thwarted by the Lewes keeper.

Fowler later combined with Jeff Wilkinson whose effort struck the bar and despite CA dominating the game, the teams went in level at 0-0 for half time.

CA stepped up their efforts to claim three points in the second half but the continuing missed opportunities become a worry for Micky Taylor.

The deadlock was finally broken when Jeff Wilkinson unleashed a 20 yard shot which the Lewes keeper pushed onto the bar, and Simon Mitchell pounced to give his team three points.

CA also thumped Dorking earlier in the month thanks to a dazzling hat-trick from prolific goalscorer Simon Mitchell and two goals from Johnny Fowler.

Croydon's first match of 1999 on Saturday resulted in a disappointing 2-1 home defeat against Worthing.

Croydon were second best for much of the game and now slip to fifteenth in league division one.

Neil Pearson put Croydon ahead after 21 minutes with a shot just inside the box, but Paul Kennett on 35 minutes and Mark Rice on 58 minutes secured the points for Worthing.

Whyteleafe who were also playing at home on Saturday, were involved in an entertaining 5-5 draw with Canvey Island.

Mark Dillon scored a hat-trick for Whyeleafe, but they still remain towards the bottom end of division one.

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