Burgess Hill Town 2 Rocks 0
Match report by Liam Goodley
Attendance – 434

Burgess Hill got off to  great start with a bursting run down the left by Marcel Powell.  Be brought the ball back to Lewis Finney, who did well to net it low beyond a diving Ryan Hall inside the first 2 minutes which stunned Bognor.

Bognor were struggling to get hold of the ball as Reggie Ward sped down the right but he ran the ball out of play.

A long ball forward towards Jasper Mather saw him try to track it down but again the ball flew out of play as well.

Bognor won a freekick just outside the box as Mather was fouled.  Calvin Davies hit the ball swirling through the wall but ex-Rock Taylor Seymour pushed it back out of the area on 20 minutes.

Kieran Rowe hit a ball in high into the area.  But Hall flailed an arm at it as the ball bounced out of play.  The referee awarded the Rocks goalkeeper a freekick.

Davies gave away a freekick.  Kieron Pamment curled it into the area but Finney, sliding in, couldn’t quite get to it.

Mather found Rabbetts on the left and the he hit it fiercely across goal and it was Seymour who steered it around the frame of goal.  Before the corner, Darren Budd went into the book after arguing with the referee on 25 minutes.  Isaac Olaniyan miscued the ball completely following the corner kick and Davies was blocked with his strike.

Then Olaniyan was denied with his low cross but was blocked from the left flank as Bognor were trying to get back into the game.

On 38 minutes it was a good turn in midfield by Matt Burgess which saw him find Rabbetts on the left side.  He swung in a cross but there was no teammate up with him to capitalise.

Davies’s corner was headed out at the near post and then Olaniyan’s cross towards the back post was just out of the reach of Douglas on 42 minutes.

Another neat turn by Burgess saw Bognor spring on the attack.  He passed onto De St Croix who got to it before winning a corner.  Davies did well to find Douglas in the area but he headed it well wide, ending a frustrating first half.

HT 1-0

Early in the second half De St Croix won an early corner on the right. Davies crossed it in but Douglas glanced his header wide.

A quick clearance saw Bognor win possession but De St Croix’s forward pass towards Tommy-Lee Higgs was cut out.

Powell was making some good runs as he beat Douglas down the left but the ball had rolled out of play before his cross.

Rocks went close soon after though as Olaniyan had a 22 yard strike destined for the top left corner but he was denied by a decent diving save by Seymour.  Then De St Croix, on the rebound, fired it over the bar on 52 minutes.

Harvey Whyte came on for De St Croix on 53 minutes.

On 56 minutes Higgs capitalised on a swift Bognor attack and hit it with his left foot on the rise and the ball cannoned off the right post and away as things simply were not going the right way for the Rocks.

Dan Smith came on for Higgs on 59 minutes as Bognor were in search of an equaliser.

Another freekick from the left hand side by Davies saw him hit the freekick into the area but Douglas couldn’t reach it in the air.

Down the other end, Martyn Box’s run down the left ended with the full back crossing it.  A header was missed in the area but the ball fell to Powell who diverted it high over the bar on the bounce.

Powell had beaten Douglas for pace and had only Hall to beat but the goalkeeper denied him a goal with his diversion into the side netting.

Rob O’Toole crashed the ball off the crossbar from yards out after a deflection off Ben Anderson on 68 minutes, after the ball fell to him low inside the area.

On 65 minutes it was Bradley Lethbridge that replaced Olaniyan on the left in Bognor’s last change of the game.

There was a period where Rocks were down to 10 men after Douglas had to receive treatment which added to the pressure they were under.

Rowe hit another chance over the bar for the Hillians as Rocks were struggling to create much in the second half.

Frustrations grew as another cross from the left by Rabbetts sailed through the area unheeded by other Bognor players, who were not in the area.

Douglas committed a foul on the left, pushing the player on 77 minutes. Box curled the freekick in but Jack Taylor diverted his header over the bar.

Then Lethbridge won a corner down the other end on the left for Bognor. Smith headed the ball across goal following a cross in open play after the corner kick and it was Craig Robson who struck it.  However, before he did so was deemed to have handled the ball and so a freekick was given to the hosts.

Lethbridge did well to speed down the left before diverting the ball across the box to Mather but right in front of goal it was denied straight away by the brave Seymour, who saved it.

Bognor committed another foul just outside the box. Left back Box was the freekick taker but his strike sailed straight to Hall who caught it confidently.

Rabbetts did so well to track down a long diagonal pass.  He passed it inside and it was Davies who diverted it further inside the box but Mather couldn’t get at it and then Anderson scuffed his strike well wide of the goalmon the follow up.

Whyte did well to fire the ball down the line to Mather who crossed it straight to Smith in the box but somehow he missed it in the air.  Smith was again in the middle with another cross soon after but again his header bounced wide. He was offside anyway so a goal wouldn’t have counted.

Davies passed it back towards Anderson but a defender got their first to divert it over the bar in another half chance for Bognor.

Davies whipped in a corner but despite Robson’s header and Mather on the line Rocks failed to get anything from the chance.

The game was officially over and beyond the Rocks when Burgess Hill went down the other end and scored their second.  Box did well to run down the left before putting the ball on a plate for a rising Finney to nod it down and into the net deep into stoppage time.

That was that.  Bognor crashed out of the FA Cup after 8 minutes of stoppage time.  Rocks travel to Enfield Town next on Saturday 9th September with kick off at 3pm.

FT 2-0

Rocks: Hall, Anderson, Rabbetts, Davies (c), Douglas, Robson, De St Croix (Whyte 59), Burgess, Higgs (Smith 59), Mather, Olaniyan (Lethbridge 65)
Subs not Used: Howick, Ogundega, Briffa, Jammeh