Four Teams Perfect as Division Two Starts to Take Shape
By Dougie
Dugout AI round-up reporter · Southern Combination Division Two round-up · Saturday 22 August 2026
Two Saturdays into the Southern Combination League Division Two season and we already have four teams sitting there with perfect records.
Chichester City B, Hurstpierpoint, Rustington and TD Shipley have all taken six points from six, and perhaps even more eye-catching is how difficult three of those sides have been to score against.
Chichester have scored 19 goals without conceding.
Hurstpierpoint have scored 11 without conceding.
Rustington have seven without reply.
TD Shipley have six points, six goals and just one conceded.
It may only be August, but those numbers will certainly have caught the attention of everyone else in the division.
Saturday’s seven fixtures produced 25 goals, with five winning teams keeping clean sheets. Bosham bounced back from an opening-day defeat by hitting four at ASC Brighton Rangers, Southwater collected their first points with a 3-1 victory over Worthing Town, while Ferring and Brighton Electricity fought out the day’s only draw.
At the other end, Copthorne, Storrington, Brighton Rangers and Worthing Town are still waiting for their first points.
Two matches tell us almost nothing about where a team will finish next spring.
But they can certainly give us a few clues.
And there are already some interesting ones appearing in Division Two.
CHICHESTER CITY B JUST KEEP WINNING
ALFOLD 0 CHICHESTER CITY B 2
After what happened on opening day, perhaps the most impressive part of Chichester City B’s second league victory was how ordinary the scoreline looked.
A week earlier they had produced one of those results which makes you assume somebody has entered the score incorrectly.
CHICHESTER CITY B 17 WORTHING TOWN 0
Nine-nil at half-time.
Seventeen by full-time.
Then came a completely different test at Alfold.
No avalanche. No double figures. No outrageous first-half destruction.
Just a professional 2-0 away victory and another three points.
That might actually tell us more about Chichester than the 17 did.
The very good sides do not need every match to become a goal fest. Sometimes you go away from home, keep the opponent out, score twice and get back on the coach.
Chichester City B have now done both.
Their record after 180 minutes of league football reads:
Played two. Won two. Scored 19. Conceded zero. Six points.
Unsurprisingly, that extraordinary goal difference puts them top of the table.
And this has not appeared from nowhere.
Chichester finished fourth last season, winning 19 of their 28 matches and scoring 107 league goals.
Only champions Hailsham Town matched that goals total.
So perhaps the warning signs were already there.
This is a side which knew where the goal was last season and appears to have returned with exactly the same appetite.
The difference so far is the clean sheets.
If a team capable of scoring at that rate also becomes difficult to score against, everybody else should pay attention.
Alfold should not be overly concerned.
They opened with a good 2-1 away victory at Storrington and were facing one of last season’s leading teams.
Three points from two is perfectly respectable.
But this was a reminder of the standard required to live with the strongest sides in this division.
HURSTPIERPOINT HAVE ARRIVED WITH A BANG
COPTHORNE 0 HURSTPIERPOINT 6
Welcome to SCFL Division Two, Hurstpierpoint.
Two games.
Eleven goals.
None conceded.
Maximum points.
It would have been difficult to design a more emphatic opening.
Having begun their campaign by going to ASC Brighton Rangers and winning 5-0, Hurstpierpoint travelled to Copthorne on Saturday and somehow went one better.
They were already 4-0 ahead at half-time and added another two after the break to complete a 6-0 demolition.
This is particularly interesting because Hurstpierpoint were playing in the Mid Sussex Football League last season. Their 2025/26 record there included big victories and a strong defensive return, and they have carried that momentum straight into their new surroundings.
There is sometimes an assumption that a team arriving at a new level will need a bedding-in period.
Hurstpierpoint appear to have ignored that memo.
Eleven scored.
Zero conceded.
And their first two victories have both come away from home.
That last point deserves emphasising.
They haven’t needed the comfort of their own ground to establish themselves. They have gone into two opponents’ backyards and won by an aggregate score of 11-0.
Now comes the difficult part.
Everybody knows.
No opponent is going to look at Hurstpierpoint as the new boys anymore.
They will be treated as one of the teams to beat.
How they respond to that will be fascinating.
COPTHORNE’S START IS BECOMING PAINFUL
For Copthorne, the first fortnight could hardly have been tougher.
Opening day brought a 5-0 defeat against Upper Beeding.
Saturday brought six more.
Played two. Lost two. Scored zero. Conceded 11.
Nobody needs telling that this represents a difficult start.
But the context around Copthorne is also important.
The club has moved its first-team base to Roffey FC for the 2026/27 campaign, another change to absorb after recent seasons in which the club had previously risen as high as Division One.
The priority now has to be simple.
Forget league positions.
Forget what everybody else is doing.
Score a goal.
Keep a game tight.
Get something on the board.
When you have conceded 11 without scoring, the worst thing a team can do is try to fix everything in one afternoon.
Copthorne need something positive to build from.
Their next fixture?
Away to Chichester City B.
Football does have a sense of humour sometimes.
RUSTINGTON LOOK LIKE THEY MEAN BUSINESS AGAIN
STORRINGTON COMMUNITY 0 RUSTINGTON 6
Anyone surprised to see Rustington near the top probably wasn’t paying attention last season.
They finished second in Division Two in 2025/26, collecting 70 points, scoring 105 goals and losing only twice in 28 league matches.
They have begun this campaign like a side with unfinished business.
Opening day brought a gritty 1-0 victory at Southwater.
Saturday brought something completely different.
A 6-0 win at Storrington Community.
Rustington led 2-0 at half-time before completely taking the game away from their hosts after the break, adding another four without reply.
That gives them six points, seven scored and none conceded.
The contrast between their two victories should concern rivals.
Southwater made them work.
Rustington still won.
Storrington gave them space to impose themselves.
Rustington scored six.
That ability to win in different ways is usually one of the first things you look for in a side expected to challenge near the top.
And Rustington already know what a title race feels like.
Last season they won 22 league matches and finished seven points behind an outstanding Hailsham Town side which lost only once all season.
Hailsham have now moved up to Division One.
Rustington remain.
You do not need to be Sherlock Holmes to work out that they will fancy another serious crack at it.
STORRINGTON NEED TO STOP THE BLEEDING
Storrington’s start is almost the mirror image.
They opened with a narrow 2-1 defeat at home to Alfold.
That was competitive.
Saturday wasn’t.
Six unanswered goals leaves Storrington with no points, one scored and eight conceded.
They sit 12th after two matches.
The encouraging point is that there is plenty of experience within this club of dealing with difficult periods.
Storrington finished tenth last season, and their campaign included several heavy defeats but also enough victories and draws to remain comfortably competitive within the division.
Nobody should judge them on a defeat against Rustington.
But the manner of the second half will hurt.
Two down at the interval is not ideal, but it still leaves a match alive.
Conceding four more means the game completely escaped them.
The response next weekend matters far more than Saturday’s result.
TD SHIPLEY — SIX POINTS AND BUSINESS AS USUAL
TD SHIPLEY 3 UPPER BEEDING 0
While Chichester, Hurstpierpoint and Rustington have generated some spectacular numbers, TD Shipley are just getting on with winning football matches.
They began by defeating Bosham 3-1.
On Saturday they beat Upper Beeding 3-0.
Two matches.
Two wins.
Six goals.
One conceded.
Six points.
There is nothing surprising about Shipley being competitive near the top.
They finished third last season with 66 points, winning 21 of their 28 league matches.
In most seasons that kind of return puts you right in the middle of the promotion conversation.
Unfortunately for Shipley, Hailsham and Rustington were both exceptional.
The Dragons therefore arrive in 2026/27 as another side with a serious body of evidence behind them.
They are not an August surprise.
They are a proven Division Two team winning Division Two football matches.
And there might be another positive hidden within Saturday’s scoreline.
Upper Beeding had destroyed Copthorne 5-0 on opening day.
They arrived at Dragons Green having already shown that they possess plenty of attacking threat.
Shipley shut them out completely.
That is arguably the most impressive aspect of the afternoon.
UPPER BEEDING BROUGHT BACK DOWN TO EARTH
Football moves quickly.
Seven days earlier, Upper Beeding were celebrating a five-goal away win.
Now they are reflecting on a 3-0 defeat.
One victory and one defeat leaves them seventh with three points, five goals scored and three conceded.
There is absolutely nothing alarming about that.
Upper Beeding finished seventh last season with 42 points, so an opening fortnight containing one huge win and one defeat against last season’s third-placed side probably tells us very little about where they ultimately land.
It simply demonstrates the strength near the top of this division.
Copthorne gave Beeding opportunities and were punished.
Shipley did not.
That is the challenge when you start playing the better sides.
BOSHAM BOUNCE BACK IN STYLE
ASC BRIGHTON RANGERS 0 BOSHAM 4
One of Saturday’s most important results came at Culver Road.
Bosham began the season with a 3-1 defeat at TD Shipley.
Given that they finished second-bottom last season, winning only three league games, an opening defeat against one of the division’s strongest sides was hardly cause for panic.
But going to ASC Brighton Rangers and winning 4-0?
That changes the early mood completely.
Bosham led only 1-0 at half-time before adding three goals after the interval.
That is exactly the kind of result which can transform belief.
Last season Bosham scored only 21 goals across their 28 league games.
They already have five after two matches this time around.
Nobody is suggesting two games erase an entire previous campaign.
But four goals away from home represents progress.
The clean sheet matters too.
Bosham conceded 80 league goals last season.
If they can become harder to break down while finding additional goals at the opposite end, their experience of 2026/27 could look completely different.
They are sixth after Saturday’s win.
A WORRYING START FOR BRIGHTON RANGERS
ASC Brighton Rangers have had one of the toughest openings of anybody.
First, Hurstpierpoint put five past them.
Then Bosham scored four.
Two home matches.
Two defeats.
Nine conceded.
No goals scored.
That is particularly surprising when you compare it with last season.
Brighton Rangers finished ninth but scored 74 goals, a very healthy total for a mid-table side.
So the absence of goals across their opening 180 minutes feels more likely to be a temporary problem than a permanent one.
Even so, conceding nine at home cannot be ignored.
Southwater away next weekend now becomes an important opportunity to settle things down.
SOUTHWATER GET MOVING
SOUTHWATER 3 WORTHING TOWN 1
After the frustration of losing 1-0 at home to Rustington on opening day, Southwater responded exactly as they would have wanted.
They were 2-1 ahead at half-time against Worthing Town before adding a third after the break to secure their first victory of the campaign.
Southwater were one of the division’s better sides last season, finishing fifth with 47 points, and there was certainly no disgrace in losing narrowly against runners-up Rustington in their first match.
Saturday puts them back on track.
Three points from two and a positive goal difference.
Nothing spectacular.
Nothing to worry about.
Just a solid start.
WORTHING TOWN SHOW SOME FIGHT AFTER SEVENTEEN-GOAL HORROR
There will not be many occasions where losing 3-1 can reasonably be described as progress.
For Worthing Town, this was one of them.
A week earlier they lost 17-0 at Chichester City B.
Seventeen.
They were 9-0 behind at half-time.
Saturday they went to Southwater and were still firmly in the contest at 2-1 during the interval.
They eventually lost 3-1, but after the psychological damage a result like 17-0 can cause, simply returning seven days later and competing properly deserves acknowledgement.
Worthing Town finished bottom last season after conceding 122 league goals.
So nobody is pretending the underlying issues have disappeared.
But this was at least a step in the right direction.
Sometimes rebuilding starts with very small victories.
Being competitive again was one.
NO WAY THROUGH AT FERRING
FERRING 0 BRIGHTON ELECTRICITY 0
Amid 25 goals elsewhere, Ferring and Brighton Electricity apparently decided everybody had seen enough.
Nil-nil.
The result keeps Ferring unbeaten after two matches.
They opened with a 3-0 victory over Rudgwick and now have four points with no goals conceded.
That puts them fifth.
Ferring finished sixth last season, so four points from six represents a perfectly solid beginning.
Brighton Electricity were playing their first league match of the campaign and will surely be pleased to begin with a clean sheet and a point.
That is particularly significant considering they conceded 103 league goals last season.
From that perspective, 0-0 away from home is not boring.
It is progress.
RUDGWICK HAVE THE WEEK OFF
With 15 teams in Division Two, somebody will always be left without a league fixture.
On Saturday it was Rudgwick.
Their only match so far remains the opening-day 3-0 defeat at Ferring.
They return to action next Saturday with a trip to TD Shipley — not exactly the gentlest way to restart.
SATURDAY’S SCFL DIVISION TWO RESULTS
ASC Brighton Rangers 0-4 Bosham
Alfold 0-2 Chichester City B
Copthorne 0-6 Hurstpierpoint
Ferring 0-0 Brighton Electricity
Southwater 3-1 Worthing Town
Storrington Community 0-6 Rustington
TD Shipley 3-0 Upper Beeding
THE EARLY DIVISION TWO PICTURE
It is only two games.
That sentence needs repeating before anybody starts engraving trophies.
But what an interesting top four we already have.
1. CHICHESTER CITY B — 6 POINTS, +19
Nineteen scored.
Zero conceded.
Enough said.
2. HURSTPIERPOINT — 6 POINTS, +11
The newcomers have not simply won their first two.
They have dismantled both opponents away from home.
3. RUSTINGTON — 6 POINTS, +7
Last season’s runners-up look exactly like last season’s runners-up.
Dangerous.
4. TD SHIPLEY — 6 POINTS, +5
Third last season and maximum points this season.
Nobody should be surprised.
Then comes Ferring on four, with Bosham, Upper Beeding, Southwater and Alfold all sitting on three points.
Brighton Electricity have one after their opening fixture.
Rudgwick, Storrington, Brighton Rangers, Copthorne and Worthing Town are still waiting to get moving.
DUGOUT NEWS VERDICT
Division Two is often overlooked because it sits beneath the senior National League System steps.
It shouldn’t be.
There are proper clubs here, proper rivalries and some excellent players.
And already there is the outline of what could become a brilliant battle at the top.
Chichester City B scored 107 goals last season and have started this campaign with 19 in two.
Rustington won 22 of 28 last year and have started with consecutive clean-sheet victories.
TD Shipley won 21 league matches last season and have started two-from-two.
And then Hurstpierpoint have walked into the division and announced themselves by winning their first two fixtures 5-0 and 6-0.
That is four teams with maximum points.
Three have not conceded a goal.
Something has to give eventually.
Then underneath them you have Ferring unbeaten, Upper Beeding capable of sticking five past teams, Southwater coming off a top-five finish and Bosham showing immediate signs that this season could look very different from the last one.
Even at the bottom there are stories developing.
Worthing Town responding to a 17-0 defeat by competing properly at Southwater.
Brighton Electricity starting their season with a clean sheet after conceding 103 last year.
Copthorne trying to find their feet after a difficult opening fortnight.
Storrington needing a response.
Brighton Rangers looking for the goals that flowed so freely last season.
We are two games in.
Nobody knows anything yet.
But we know this much.
Chichester City B are scoring for fun.
Hurstpierpoint have arrived.
Rustington still look like contenders.
TD Shipley haven’t gone anywhere.
And if those four keep moving at anything close to this pace, SCFL Division Two could produce one hell of a race.
First published in Dugout News, Issue 3, 23 August 2026. Republished here in full.
