Howell and Birmingham were appointed on Wednesday following the departure of Robbie Blake three weeks ago and they looked to have steered the visitors to a much-needed win and three points with a battling performance.
Jasper Mather’s 19th-minute goal had given the Rocks the lead and Bognor grew in confidence as the game went on and looked for all the world as if they would hang on to the slender lead and snaffle the points as they look to climb from their bottom-of-the-table status.
But heartbreak was to come in a late, late show at Kings Langley, where the home side are playing their games at present, when Chaynie Fage-Burgin grabbed a 95th minute equaliser.
Howell and Birmingham gave new signing Lewis Beale, a midweek capture from Wimborne Town, a start in attack and were able to call upon fit-again Hayden Gale, while striker Siyabonga Ligendza — on loan from Eastbourne Borough — missed out through injury.
It was a nervy start for the Rocks but they soon settled in to their game and found a rhythm and purpose that saw them grow in confidence, boosted of course by Mather’s strike that gave them a first-half advantage.
But they couldn’t hang on and yet Birmingham, speaking to Peter Hood from Rocks Radio after the game, remained philosophical and was quick to accentuate the positives from the encounter.
He said: “It is heart-breaking especially with the effort the lads put in but we can’t let one moment of the 98 minutes ruin what happened. There were a lot of positives there. Me and Jamie were immensely happy with what we saw. We know the work rate needed… can we improve the fitness levels? I think possibly we can, especially the way we want to play but it just goes to show that we are not a million miles away but also not as close as what we need to be.
“I didn’t think we looked threatened at all and looked very comfortable. The shape worked, the boys were excellent, they gave us everything and we now know that we have a nice little foundation to build in and that is what we are looking to do.
“We would have taken a point before the game but we feel a little bit gutted for the boys because obviously they have done ever so well. There is enough experience in the dugout to understand how we want to play and they are a young side. We had one training session on Thursday and they have performed well here. We will train again on Monday and we have some tough games coming up on Boxing Day (at Horsham) and on December 28 (home to Hastings United).”
Bognor Regis Town: 1 Ryan Hall, 2 Harvey Whyte, 3 Hayden Gale, 4 Calvin Davies (C), 5 Tommy Block (Tyler Edmondson 89′), 6 Jay Richardson, 7 Doug Tuck, 8 Matt Burgess, 9 Dan Gifford, Lewis Beale (Tommy-Lee Higgs 60′), Jasper Mather. Subs: 12 Tommy-Lee Higgs, 14 Tyler Edmondson, 15 Billie Clark, 16 Preston Woolston, 17 Scott Leslie.
