Westfield made a poor start to 2026 as they went down 2-0 at South Park on a chilly cold afternoon in Reigate.

No one could say the home side didn’t deserve the points as the visiting Field were uncharacteristically out of sorts in a rare off day for Andy Crossley’s side.

The hosts threatened in the opening stages and ex-Westfield Star Goather-Braithwaite perhaps should have done better but seemed to stumble instead of getting a shot off from 6 yards.

A controversial moment arrived in the 11th minute when Tom Dryer drove through the hosts midfield before firing low past Danny Bracken from the edge of the area with the ball appearing to cross the line but come back out of the heavy metal post which is featured on many designs of goals on the newer 3G arenas.

Just before the half-hour mark the hosts took the lead as a quickly taken free kick saw them break down the right and a cross across the box saw ex-Farnham striker Shamal Edwards slide home at the back post.

The rest of the half saw Westfield fail to create anything of note whilst the Sparks continued to threaten on the break.

The second half saw an improved Westfield and Bracken twice had top be alert to get down low to to keep out John Adebiyi efforts with the midfielder thrown on as part of several changes around the 60 min mark.
However with the hosts continuing to look dangerous one the counter it came as no surprise when Edwards raced onto a great through ball and expertly clipped past the onrushing Gallifent to double lhe lead on 66 minutes.
The Field continued to battle but rarely tested Bracken as the home rear guard superbly marshalled by Ross Stepney saw out the game with relative ease, only Aderi Dede coming close in the final stages but he couldn’t divert his effort on the stretch towards the target.