The visitors fought gamely and controlled large portions of the second half as they chased the leveller that would have earned them a deserved point against a well-drilled Hornets side, now sitting sixth in the table.
Bosses Michael Birmingham and Jamie Howell brought in Dion Jarvis from Littlehampton Town and he made his debut at left-back in this West Sussex derby clash that saw Siyabonga Ligendza return to lead the line.
It was the home side that opened the scoring when a mistake at the back allowed Chris Dickson to rifle home on 16 minutes. The goal was probably coming in fairness and indeed Ryan Hall had made a couple of superb saves to deny the host before that.
James Hammond made it 2-0 with a thunderous strike on 49 minutes and perhaps the Bognor of old would have folded somewhat and Dominic Di Paola’s side could have gone on to win at a canter.
But the spirited visitors refused to buckle and Mather smashed home from inside the box to make it 2-1 three minutes later – and the Rocks’ tails were firmly up.
Buoyed by the goal, the Nye Camp men kept possession well as they probed to find the chance that might lead them to parity. Their cause looked to have been helped when Danny Barker was sent off for a reckless challenge on Calvin Davies on 80 minutes.
Ligendza hit the bar with six minutes remaining but try as they might the visitors couldn’t make the all-important breakthrough. Now they must rally ahead of Saturday’s Sussex derby against Hastings United at Nyewood Lane. It’s a game they will have to play without influential central defender Tommy Block, who limped off just before half-time with a hamstring injury.
Howell was disappointed with the result but saw the upside in the display. He told Peter Kelly Sullivan after the game: “There were a lot more positives than negatives today and I thought our attitude was first class. I thought that in the first half we probably gave them too much respect if anything. I didn’t think we got tight enough to challenge but we spoke at half-time and sorted a few things out and we had a better shape second half and we got closer to them. A draw would have been a really good result for us.”
Birmingham, who along with his co-gaffer have been in charge now for two games (the first being a 1-1 draw at Potters Bar Town last Saturday), said he is delighted his players are already responding to input despite the short length of time the new duo have been at the helm.
He added: “I thought the attitude was phenomenal today from the boys they gave us everything – we have come to a good side away from home and without being disrespectful, we’ve conceded two goals, but we looked very comfortable for large periods of the game.
“We’ve watched 180 minutes of football and conceded three goals but no-one has really ripped us open. The boys are listening, they are taking it on board and fair play to them because we haven’t really had the chance to do anything on the training pitch yet so everything we are doing is on the tactics board or visual – and they are soaking it in. We can’t say anything derogatory about the lads because of the way they have gone out there and performed without a proper training session.”
Bognor Regis Town: 1 Ryan Hall, 2 Spencer Spurway, 3 Dion Jarvis, 4 Calvin Davies (C), 5 Tommy Block (Hayden Gale 45′), 6 Jay Richardson (Tommy-Lee Higgs 86′), 7 Harvey Whyte, 8 Matt Burgess, 9 Siyabonga Ligendza, 10 Dan Gifford, 11 Jasper Mather (Lewis Beale 90+2′). Subs: 12 Tommy-Lee Higgs, 14 Preston Woolston.
