The former Southampton youngster replaced Dan Smith on 55 minutes — and nine minutes later he pounced to give the visitors the lead. Then he had a hand in helping Robbie Blake’s side go 2-0 up on 74 minutes when Dan Gifford struck to continue his rich run of form. To cap it off, Higgs was awarded the man-of-the-match bubbly as the Rocks celebrated a fourth league victory on the spin. The three points were no more than Bognor deserved and they fully merited the triumph that leaves them in seventh position in the standings just two spots from the play-off places. With skipper Calvin Davies suspended for three games following his yellow card accumulation, Matt Burgess came in to the starting line-up to partner Ben Anderson in the middle of the park. Another change saw Jasper Mather come in for Isaac Olaniyan. Despite their best efforts, Blake’s men couldn’t make the breakthrough before the interval but there appeared to be a growing belief that the home side would be put to the sword. And so it proved after the break. The Nye Camp gaffer unleashed Higgs and the substitution proved to be pivotal. Blake was chuffed to collect the away day win and was full of praise and admiration for his team and their perseverance. He said: “The lads were excellent, especially in the second half and I thought we could have won by more, without being disrespectful to Margate. It was a great win for us and you can see that the players are buying into what we are trying to do. They’re playing with confidence and it shows. I thought Ben Anderson was different class as was Craig Robson but in fact all of the players did their bit. Can we still improve? Of course we can as can every team and the challenge is to do that. We now need to keep this form up and try to have a good second half of the season.”
Bognor Regis Town: 1 Ryan Hall, 2 Harvey Whyte,
3 Joe Rabbetts, 4 Matt Burgess,
5 Spencer Spurway, 6 Craig Robson,
1. Lucas Pattenden (Alfie Bridgman 91′),
2. Ben Anderson, 9 Dan Smith (Tommy-Lee Higgs 55′), 10 Dan Gifford (Isaac Olaniyan 79′), 11 Jasper Mather
Subs: 12 Tommy-Lee Higgs, 14 Isaac Olaniyan,
15 Alfie Bridgman, 16 Joe Briffa, 17 Kieran Douglas.
