After achieving success in the West Sussex league the club joined Division Two of the Sussex County League for the 1970–71 campaign, finishing third in their first three seasons. In the 1972–73 season the club played their first ever FA Cup game drawing 0–0 with Chichester City, before losing 2–1 in the replay. In 1978–79 Pagham finished as champions of Division Two, winning promotion to the top division. The club finished fourth the following season, behind champions Chichester City, but lifted the title in 1980–81 – three points clear of runners-up Peacehaven & Telscombe, who went on to win the next two titles. Just three years later however, Pagham were relegated. Two third placings followed before the Division Two championship was lifted for the second time in 1986–87. Better was to follow over the next two seasons, with successive Division One titles, as well as the League Challenge Cup in 1988–89. The club firmly established itself as a Division One club subsequently, without reaching the heights of the late 1980s – the best season being 1992–93, when Pagham finished as runners-up to Peacehaven. 2003–04 however, saw the club finish in the bottom three, with only the earlier liquidation of St. Leonards sparing them the drop into Division Two. There was no escape in 2004–05 however, and a similarly wretched campaign saw the Lions drop back down into Division Two.