The hosts, who ground-share the 1878 Stadium with Burnham FC, dumped their Sussex visitors out of the FA Cup in the opening game of the 2023-24 season. On that occasion, an undercooked away side lost 1-0, so had a free weekend last Saturday, whereas Southall drew at home to Beaconsfield before beating the team from the step above in a dramatic mid-week replay where they trailed 2-0 at the break and bounced back in the second half courtesy of two Thompson-Brissett penalties and a 97^th minute Ryan Hope winner.

Here, there was just the one change to the Chi starting XI that lined up at Broadbridge Heath in a 3-0 victory on Bank Holiday Monday last time out as Prichard returned in place of the unavailable Josh Clack.

A long ball, the tactic Southall would resort to throughout, from Roper in this instance some sixty seconds in saw a teammate flagged offside.

Luke Heneghan, scorer of the only goal in that FA Cup extra-preliminary round encounter at the start of August, then hooked up with Darreon Mark only for Rob Hutchings to get a block in.

Next, pressure from Kaleem Haitham and Prichard forced Southall keeper Michael Edegbe to clear before Haitham and Mark were both flagged offside.

And then Chichester created a decent opportunity when a lovely through ball by Emmett Dunn beat the trap and all Lee Seok-jae had to do was lift it over Edegbe but he wasn’t able to.

Joshua Green spurned a chance at the other end a minute later when he got in although failed to find a connection and Thompson-Brissett forced Chi custodian Kieran Magee into his first save on 11.

Chichester then lost Haitham to an injury with Conrad Honore replacing him and the sub was involved immediately as he set Lee up for a shot that didn’t really trouble Edegbe.

Lee and Honore combined as the visitors probed but Ryan Davidson’s delivery was too close to the keeper before centre back Ben Pashley dealt with another long ball intended for O’Connor.

A mix-up between Southall captain Azeez Alabi and Edegbe gifted Prichard, Chi’s top scorer last term, the simplest of tasks of slotting into an empty net on 15 minutes to open his 2023-24 account.

Magee tidied up O’Connor’s flick; Rob Hutchings hit a delicious ping; and O’Connor picked out Thompson-Brissett who was offside anyway.

Alabi then beat Prichard to the ball cleanly this time and Joe Clarke made a precise tackle on Mark.

At the mid-point a clever short Heneghan free-kick to Thompson-Brissett resulted in a fierce effort which Magee palmed around a post for the first corner of the match. This was whipped in and headed just wide.

The equaliser came after the drinks break as the 1878 basked in sweltering September sunshine when Southall got in too easily and a cut back gave the No7 a chance which he slotted home.

Abdul Nurein then hacked Honore down but Chi wasted the set-piece and Lee dragged one wide after two or three nice touches.

A footrace between Rob Hutchings and Mark ended in a cross to an offside O’Connor before Lee was dispossessed after a lung-bursting run on the half hour.

Dunn was caught two minutes later as Green became the first player to get yellow-carded, although one of the hosts’ players had been impeded beforehand.

Prichard might have nicked the consequent free-kick ahead of Edegbe and then delivered a decent cross which unfortunately no one reached.

A super Steve Hutchings knock-on to Lee and a little exchange sent Chi away but a player had strayed offside.

Rob Hutchings then made a brilliant tackle in the area to deny Mark and Magee punched away a Thompson-Brissett cross before his shot didn’t curl enough on 41.

Nice passes between Prichard, Honore and Davidson teed Pashley up for a delivery that an offside Steve Hutchings met.

Next, Prichard got a talking to rather than a card for kicking the ball away and Magee gathered David Amate’s cross after the full back did well to keep the ball in.

And on the stroke of half time Thompson-Brissett wasn’t far off target with another attempt.

Lee hit one high and wide after a push on Steve Hutchings in the box was overlooked before Prichard was pulled down by Alabi, although the subsequent free-kick didn’t clear the first man.

Curtis Da Costa then picked up a nasty head injury battling for the ball and Prichard danced inside only to shoot wide of the mark.

Rob Hutchings lost possession cheaply and after a couple of shots cannoned off Chi defenders Southall won a corner that Davidson headed clear.

Southall then grabbed what proved to be the winner in the 57^th minute, again all too easily.

It might have been 3-1 almost straight away when Dunn lost it this time but All failed to capitalise.

A lovely twist and turn by Honore allowed him to find Steve Hutchings who was impeded by Roper and booked by referee Lukas Wood.

Edegbe’s fantastic fingertip save denied Rob Hutchings moments later and the following corner came to nothing.

Next, Steve Hutchings was unable to get to Lee’s cross at the back stick before Prichard’s one was rather wayward.

Kevin Songolo replaced Mark on 67 and Honore spun two opponents and pulled an impressive stop out of Edegbe low to his right.

Songolo then made something of Lee’s poor pass but Clarke was on hand to defend well.

Isaac Bello came on for Lee and a mistimed challenge on him earned O’Connor a booking in the 73^rd minute. Rob Hutchings took the free-kick and Prichard hit an errant shot.

Southall sub Frankie Taylor was alert to cut out Bello’s cross with 10 of normal time to go and both shots from the subsequent corner got blocked as Southall dug in.

O’Connor cleverly drew a foul out of Rob Hutchings on 81 and Magee gathered the set-piece without any problems.

Clarke was then exchanged for Joe Moore as Chi rolled the dice and the hosts denied Prichard effectively after a measured pass from Honore.

Dunn and Davidson played a neat one-two and earned a free-kick which was wasted before lovely skill from Thompson-Brissett left a defender on his backside.

Both sides were flagged offside as Southall managed a considerable amount of additional time.

Taylor’s excellent last-ditch tackle prevented Bello breaking in and the corner was hacked away.

And Hope had a go with a long-ranger spotting Magee off his line but his effort drifted wide.

So, Chi’s unbeaten run of four games in all competitions is over. Miles Rutherford’s men welcome Hythe Town, who are just below third-placed Chichester at this early stage of the campaign, to Bognor’s Nyewood Lane MKM Arena for an Isthmian South East league encounter on Saturday 16^th September (Kick Off 3pm).

Chichester – Magee, Davidson, Rob Hutchings, Clarke, Da Costa, Pashley, Haitham, Dunn, Steve Hutchings, Lee, Prichard. Subs – (O’Brien, Honore, Moore, Bello)