Bognor were 3-0 down when Higgs took to the pitch and he sparked hopes of a comeback with two goals but Robbie Blake’s men couldn’t draw level despite a spirited late fight back.
Blake chose to give debuts to striker Callum Barlow, attacker Rocco Gamblin and defender Hayden Gale, while recently signed Tyler Edmondson came in for the injured Craig Robson and Joe Besant also got his bow with Ryan Hall still suffering from a shoulder injury.
Sam Granville scored his first goal for the Ambers to give the hosts the lead after 15 minutes.
Kai Brown picked out his late run into the box and he fired right into the top right corner giving Joe Besant in the visitors’ goal no chance.
But it wasn’t long before the hosts doubled their lead, going 2-0 up on 19 minutes. The goal came about when Nathaniel Orafu expertly headed home in Dernell Wynter’s cross past a despairing Besant.
Then the Rocks could have easily gone 2-0 down when Kai Brown volleyed a Taylor Miles cross over the crossbar.
Blake decided to make a change at the interval and the versatile Harvey Whyte replaced youngster Gamblin.
There was more woe for Bognor shortly after the second period kicked off though. Brown made it a brace to give Cheshunt a 3-0 lead on 50 minutes and Blake’s men looked to have a challenge to get anything from the game.
And on 53 minutes Jasper Mather came on for Gale as Blake tried to either instigate a comeback from the visitors or perhaps a more realistic view is that he was keen to tighten things up. Another change followed four minutes later when Gifford was replaced by Higgs.
The forward made a quick impact by slotting home from the penalty spot on 72 minutes to make it 3-1 as hopes were raised that the visitors could get something from the encounter.
Doug Tuck replaced Edmondson on 75 minutes as Blake looked for some creativity from the summer signing from Horsham.
The Rocks pulled it back to 3-2 with a second goal from Higgs on 79 minutes thanks to a clever Burgess assist.
Finn Evans replaced Lucas Pattenden on 81 minutes as Bognor pushed for the equaliser.
The Rocks piled on the pressure in the latter stages and Tommy Block went close with a header late on but the visitors couldn’t find the leveller.
