Bognor went into the clash with key players such as Craig Robson, Doug Tuck, Harvey Whyte, Ben Anderson, Tommy Block, Lucas Pattenden and youngster Hayden Gale all side lined.
Liam Smith gave the home side the lead on 20 minutes then Spencer Spurway replied with a stunning strike to bring the scores level at 1-1 in the 70th minute. But the Brickies regained the lead when Funsho Henry Sinai scored two minutes later and the hosts held on to progress in the competition.
Assistant manager Jamie Howell spoke to Rocks Radio’s Peter Hood after the game and he expressed frustration at the defeat.
He said: “The boys tried hard but the goals conceded were two set pieces and if you can’t do the simple things it makes life very difficult, it’s very disappointing.
“You try to get back in the game and then give goals away but they are very young, some of the lads — and they are not doing the simple things well. Sometimes the best players are those who do the simple things will get their head in the way they kick it out; and that’s what we need to do and get back to the basics.
“What we are looking at is who have we go that we want to work with in the future. Who is going to represent the football club in the manner that the fans want to see. They have got to give their all, they’ve got to listen and work hard — and if they do that at this tricky stage they will come good for us.
“We understand we were short, we have had a lot of injuries, that’s well documented — I’m not going to make that an excuse because we have still got to do better with effort commitment passion. It doesn’t matter what team you support, that is what you want to see and when we are not seeing that from a collective that’s hard — and that’s what we need to make sure we get back to.”
Bognor Regis Town: 1 Ryan Hall, 2 Calvin Davies, 3 Rocco Gamblin, 4 Essa Janneh, 5 Spencer Spurway, 6 Tyler Edmondson, 7 Haydon Vaughan, & Matt Burgess (C) 9 Dan Gifford, 10 Tommy-Lee Higgs, 11 Harry Clout (Jasper Mather 54′). Subs: 12 Callum Barlow, 14 Jasper Mather, 15 Toby Kingswell, 16 Rio Long, 17 Mason Vince.
