Lewis Hyde, who suffered a tendon injury in the draw with Sevenoaks last time out, was replaced by Connor Cody making his first start in six games. Cody partnered Ben Pashley at the heart of the Chi back four with Ryan Davidson and Rob Hutchings either side. Jamie Horncastle, Lloyd Rowlatt, and Dunn lined up in midfield with Kaleem Haitham and Ethan Prichard offering attacking options to striker Callum Overton.
When the two teams met in the league at Oaklands Park mid-September Chichester stunned their visitors with a blistering first half performance as Overton scored twice in the opening seven minutes before Hutchings, Rowlatt and the Gicu Iordache made it 5-1 ahead of the break with Tyrone Madhani adding a sixth goal in the second half to cap a memorable victory.
Here it was Whitehawk who started the brighter forcing a corner sixty seconds in and Declan Kama latched on to this but fired wide.
Hutchings’ pass to Horncastle was then cut out but Cody recovered before pinging a ball to Haitham.
Davidson next denied Luke Emberson with a brilliant tackle and Pashley was similarly astute with good defending as Javaun Splatt, who grabbed the Hawks’ consolation goal in that drubbing two months ago, threatened.
Chi keeper Kieran Magee made the first save of the night in the fifth minute gathering Lewis Unwin’s effort after the No4 linked up with Peter Gregory.
The hosts’ joint top scorer Overton then pulled a shot wide of the target at the other end following nice work by Dunn and Rowlatt.
Chi’s midfielders were involved in another slick passage of play but the ball wouldn’t sit up for Overton this time.
A misplaced pass from Hutchings was seized on by Hawks skipper Henry Muggeridge who dragged his attempt wide before a slick move between Pashley, Horncastle, Overton and Rowlatt fizzled out with Haitham flagged offside.
Hutchings then picked out Overton with a telling cross but the No9’s touch was too heavy.
Super work by Gregory to control Muggeridge’s ball on his chest set up Kama for a shot that nicked off a Chi defender for a corner that Omarr Lawson sent over but a teammate impeded an opponent.
Gregory and Muggeridge then exchanged a one-two but the return ball was too firm.
Nathan Stroonberg-Clarke claimed Prichard’s delivery easily enough and moments later at the mid-point, after good play from Kama, Lawson struck a shot on the swivel into Magee’s midriff.
Hutchings next went shoulder to shoulder with Gregory probing down the right flank and after a break for treatment Gregory was replaced by Billie Clark.
Cody then got a knee on a pass intended for the Hawks sub before Chi skipper Horncastle came out on top in a duel with Splatt.
Overton shot wide again ahead of the half hour mark after Rowlatt headed a Hutchings pass into his path.
An overhit through ball for Prichard from Haitham was collected comfortably by Stroomberg-Clarke and Davidson, not for the last time, headed a cross firmly clear at the other end.
Dunn, impressive in the centre of the park all evening, fed Prichard following a strong tackle but after a bit of trickery the Chi youngster lost the ball in the box.
Lawson, Unwin and Splatt all linked up in the Hawks’ next attack only for Chi to deal with the final delivery.
And then in the 35th minute Mohammed Kamara was inches away from getting something on Lawson’s corner kick.
Prichard went on another run that petered out before Lawson gave Magee a scare with a shot that popped up and out of Magee’s grasp before the ball was steered away for another corner.
Magee’s counterpart was also troubled by Haitham’s effort that he spilt ahead of Horncastle and Haitham hooking up down the left. Haitham crossed for Prichard but both Prichard’s shot and Chi appeals for a pen after Haitham was caught came to nothing.
Davidson then sent Chichester on a counter attack where Overton couldn’t get a shot off; Ollie Munt strayed offside as Clark played him in; and Hutchings skinned a player down the left only for a Hawks defender to deny Overton.
The visitors won a corner late on that came out to Muggeridge whose attempt deflected off a defender and on to the frame of the goal to draw a first half, that the East Sussex side probably edged, to a close.
Free kicks were exchanged in the opening minutes of the second period and a soft shot from one of these was cleared comfortably by Chi.
The hosts won their first corner of the game after a run down the left wing by Overtoand Davidson headed away Munt’s cross as Whitehawk probed once more.
Hutchings then went on a lovely run turning this way and that but he shot wide of the target when a pass to the overlapping Davidson might have been the better option.
Emberson next evaded a Rowlatt challenge and broke away to find Splatt before Kama got the ball back to Stroomberg-Clarke under pressure.
A super cross-field pass from Cody picked out a marauding Hutchings only for his cross-cum-shot to drift out at the far post.
Pashley and Prichard then combined after neat play from Davidson but the delivery was too deep and Overton couldn’t get a decent connection to Prichard’s cross on the hour as Chi pressed again.
Clark, whose pace gave the hosts problems all game, pulled a fine save out of Magee down low to his right, and after a flowing move Splatt was judged offside.
Chichester earned a second corner in the 64th minute when Dunn’s effort was deflected which got cleared at the near post to Haitham who lifted his shot over the bar.
Magee then mishit a clearance to Lawson who squared to Munt and his attempt also sailed high over.
A coming together of Cody and Kama resulted in the Hawks right back being substituted for Leon Redwood with 22 minutes of normal time to go.
Cody’s set-piece was inches away from a stretching Overton before Magee did well to hook the ball away after Davidson was put under pressure by Munt.
The Chi shot-stopper then claimed a free-kick from the left before Chi defenders came to Cody’s aid after a slip up.
Magee was called into action to deny Redwood and got out quickly to beat Splatt to the ball.
Next Rowlatt found a pocket of space for an effort Kamara blocked for a corner which was headed away before the visitors had claims for a penalty overturned as Redwood went down in the box in the last move of the 90 minutes.
So, we went to extra time and Haitham spurned the first opportunity and Overton’s cross flicked off a defender into Stroomberg-Clarke’s arms.
The Hawks No1 then punched clear before an Overton backheel was intercepted.
Magee came out swiftly ahead of Redwood and Pashley turned Clark’s inviting cross out for a corner that Davidson got to.
Prichard went close for Chi and Davidson’s glancing header caused the visitors some trouble.
A well-timed Rowlatt tackle as the momentum continued to swing enabled Chichester to break again and Prichard was brought down on the edge of the area.
Madhani was introduced for Haitham and made the keeper work with his first kick of the game as Stroomberg-Clarke palmed away his set-piece for a corner.
Prichard struck an effort over five minutes into the second period of extra time before Whitehawk forged two opportunities down the right wing.
And then five minutes away from the lottery of a penalty shootout Dunn grabbed the winning goal, and his first of the season, with a sweet drive into the bottom left hand corner.
Scott Jones came on for Prichard and linked up with Madhani but his cross was cut out just before Whitehawk hit the woodwork, albeit another player was judged offside.
Jones and Madhani combined again when Madhani pulled the ball back to his teammate only for Jones’ late header to be gathered by Stroomberg-Clarke.
It was a third win in an unbeaten run of four matches this month for Chi. Phoenix Sports travel to Oaklands Park for an Isthmian south east league game next on Saturday 20th November (Kick Off 3pm).
Chichester – Magee, Davidson, Hutchings, Horncastle, Cody, Pashley, Rowlatt, Dunn, Overton, Haitham, Prichard. Subs: (Monkford-Allott, Jones, Madhani, Mendoza, Dellaud)
