After the freezing cold of Worthing on Tuesday night it was onto Bognor Regis on Wednesday, the second of a South Coast trilogy. Not often I make it two games in two nights, but an opportunity to make a record for myself.
Cray Wanderers were the visitors to Nyewood Lane for a second time this season and the fourth meeting overall for the two sides. Having already witnessed the early season league meeting at Hayes Lane which ended 2-2, the sides were drawn together in the FA Cup a few weeks later.
After a 2-2 draw again on the south coast, Bognor won the replay quite emphatically by a scoreline of 4-0, this evening game being the first time I had witnessed four games between the same two sides in one full season. Since those early days, the Wands have remained around the play-off places while for Bognor it hasn’t clicked into gear at all, but still time for a strong unbeaten run with plenty of games left.
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A late arrival for the visitors due to traffic problems saw a 10 minute warm up only for Cray and as expected they struggled a little to get into the game from the start although they had the best chance in the opening ten minutes of the game, Mitch Chapman striking the post.
Possession was controlled by the Rocks as the Wands did seem affected by the rushed start but they dealt well with what was coming their way despite being forced into a defensive change after a long stoppage for an injury to Sinn’kaye Christie, forcing Chapman into the back four.
Bognor did have the ball in the net on 24 minutes, but the lively Dan Gifford was rightly flagged offside. The first goal did however arrive for the home side and it came three minutes before half time, centre half Cameron Black turning sweetly on his left side and stroking the ball past Shaun Rowley for the Rocks and a half time lead.
Cray though certainly came out a stronger outfit in the second half and were rewarded with an equaliser nine minutes in, a bouncing ball in the box was rifled into the net by ex-Bee Sam Skeffington for his first Wands goal. Little had the celebrations finished for that one and Bognor were back in front, a cross to the far post saw Gifford plant his header beyond Rowley for the home side to be back in the lead two minutes after conceding.
Even at that point you felt the game wasn’t done for goals and the Wands were level again on 67 minutes, Rocks keeper Toby Steward having fouled Yahaya Bamba in the box and Anthony Cook lashed home the penalty to level the scores.
Both sides went hell for leather for a winner, Gifford hitting the bar after bouncing the ball off the turf whilst Bamba went through against Steward but couldn’t find the target to leave the sides level for a third 2-2 draw this season.
Back in August when the two sides first met, Bognor had to recover from 2-0 down to rescue a point which was similar to the year before, allowing sides to take control and here tonight this time around they couldn’t hold onto a lead. They are however as close to the play-off’s as they are the bottom four but having drawn as many as they have won and lost more they do appear to have a way to go.
Cray however are nicely placed at the top end of the table before the weekend games and although Neil Smith isn’t quite happy completely yet they are a far cry from last season relegation battle.
Ironically, it popped up on my Facebook Timehop it was a year to the day I got Smudger back to watching football at Hayes Lane, his first return since being sacked as Bromley manager, a 3-0 Wands win over Horsham, 12 months later and it’s his Wands team doing some good things, funny how football works out some times.
A word on the officials, you know I don’t often mention them as it’s a job I wouldn’t do so I stay away often from criticising them but the three on display on Wednesday were up there with the poorest I’ve seen this year, neither assistant seemed to assist very much, the referee very card happy and baffling at some of those he booked for just fouls in my opinion, including that of Tom Derry in a 50-50 challenge with the Rocks keeper, he was poor for both sides and took the edge off a nicely competitive game for me, but there we go, not too often I’ve had to say that this season!
Footnote: Unfortunately, the South Coast trilogy didn’t quite come off as a frozen pitch put paid to Littlehampton’s home game with Corinthian on Saturday afternoon, two out of three isn’t bad I guess…….
