Although the referee had doubts about the pitch and insisted on some remedial work before passing it fit, it proved perfectly playable and indeed would not have caused a second thought only a few years ago. The outcome was an entertaining match between two evenly matched sides with a draw being a fair outcome, leaving them both at the wrong end of the table , although we stayed in 14th.place, whilst Bognor are still in a relegation place.
The drizzly rain for some hours before the kick-off on a chilly day did not help the attendance, but both sets of supporters clearly enjoyed the game and warmly applauded the teams off the pitch at the final whistle.
We started quite well and Dan Lincoln was soon in action in the Bognor goal while Luke Hopper was shepherded away by a defender as he ran on to a pass from Diak John, whose speedy attacks down the left looked threatening, Defender Sami el-Ab headed away a dangerous corner and Lincoln fumbled a shot from Hopper, but recovered to clear the danger. We took the lead after 37 minutes when Hopper ran on to a through ball from Ritchie Whittingham but Lincoln came out and brought him down, Louie Soares converting he penalty after the Bognor protests had been dismissed.

Bognor came out to put us under pressure at the start of the second half and equalised after 53 minutes when annexcellent cross to find Jimmy Muitt racing through the middle to beat Marcus Beauchamp with an unstoppable shot into the bottom corner, but we were unlucky when a shot from Hopper rebounded clear off the keeper’s legs.
The game ebbed and flowed with half-chances at both ends, Paul Stonehouse putting over a good cross which drifted behind the bar and Lincoln pulling off a great save to deny us another chance, but the visitors also had their chances before the final whistle brought the game to a close with a point a piece to continue the league battle for them both.

Team; Marcus Beauchamp, Rhys Tyler(Paul Stonehouse), Diak John,James Rusby, Matt Williams, Ritchie Whittingham(Alex Wall), James Clark, Louie Soares, Luke Hopper, Nicholas Bignall(Jamal Lawrence, Tom Meechan
Subs; Scott Rees, Ian Herring