Interim bosses David Birmingham and Craig Robson were forced to shuffle the pack to field as strong a side as possible after Dan Gifford, Tommy Block, Spencer Spurway and Matt Burgess were all declared unfit.
And they were dealt yet another injury blow in the warm-up at Prior Lane for this quarter-final clash when Toby Kingswell pulled up and was unable to start. Mason Vince replaced him and joined fellow youngsters Preston Woolston and Lennie Smith in the line-up.
The Rocks gave a creditable account of themselves against the strongly fancied side from the Vanarama National League South and managed to stay in the game until Vince was harshly adjudged to have fouled David Sesay in the box.
If anything, it looked like a foul on the young right-back but Borough took full advantage of the spot-kick when Alfie Pavey slotted home in the 40th minute.
Pavey grabbed his brace just before the break when he arrived late in the box at the far post and headed home to give the home side 2-0 lead.
It was a big knock for the Rocks to go in at half-time 2-0 down when ultimately the goal would have been to arrive at the interval on terms. The fear was that the setback would affect confidence but Bognor refused to lay down and die and put in a shift full of pride and commitment.
There was something of a reward for their efforts in the 93rd minute when Tommy-Lee Higgs fired home a late penalty after Jasper Mather was brought down in the area — but any hopes of a late, late comeback were scuppered when the full-time whistle went seconds later.
Stand-in boss Birmingham said there were positives to take from the game and praised the youngsters drafted in to the squad when he spoke to Rocks Radio’s Peter Kelly-Sullivan after the defeat. He said: “There penalty was harsh wasn’t it? It looked out of the box, just a collision… it wasn’t a penalty. It was a shame because Mason played really well at right-back. It was unjust.
“It was unfortunate to lose Toby in the warm-up, he rolled his ankle so it gave Mason his chance and he did well. The young lad Lennie did well, plenty of pace, plenty of energy and he did extremely well for us and when we called on the boys from the bench (Ashton Horstead and Rio Long) they did well.
“Our press was good our shape was good. Harvey and Doug organised us really well behind Jasper and Tommy-Lee, with Preston in there as well. They all did really well.”
Bognor Regis Town: 1 Ryan Hall, 2 Harvey Whyte, 3 Calvin Davies (C) , 4 Amadou Jallow, 5 Tyler Edmondson, 15 Mason Vince, 7 Lennie Smith, 8 Doug Tuck (Ashton Horstead 67′), 9 Tommy-Lee Higgs, 10 Jasper Mather, 11 Preston Woolston Subs: 12 Ashton Horstead, 14 Rio Long.
