Higgs came off the bench on the hour mark to replace Lewis Beale and scored to make it 3-2 on 66 minutes before Jasper Mather, on for Harvey Whyte on 78 minutes, made it 3-3 on 87 minutes.
Then Higgs pounced to grab what had seemed to be an improbable winner in the 90th minute giving the new management duo of Michael Birmingham and Jamie Howell their first victory since they took over four games ago. Bognor went into the Isthmian premier division encounter bottom of the table and seemingly resigned to their fate of being relegated.
This win may just provide a platform for the Rocks to turn their season around as they battle to get out of the drop zone. They were ten points from safety going into the game and that margin has been reduced to 8 points.
The visitors suffered a huge blow when defender Amadou Jallow was sent off on 20 minutes and it looked for all the world that a uphill task would follow. And Hamlet, who had taken a 1-0 lead after just one minute through Luke Wanadio, looked to take command with two goals from Ralfi Hand on 31 and 39 minutes.
But they hadn’t reckoned with the fighting spirit within the Rocks ranks and the sensational comeback saw the Nye Camp outfit emerge with an incredible morale-boosting win.
Birmingham, red carded for celebrating the fourth goal, was delighted to secure the victory. He told Peter Kelly-Sullivan: “It shows what Bognor are all about. It’s something we have tried to get back in the team; spirit, camaraderie, the togetherness… we told a few home truths and were very critical of the boys after the (4-1) defeat to Chichester and rightly so. We had a good training session on Thursday and I thought they were fantastic today, even at 3-1 at half-time I thought we were the best side. I thought we were brilliant.”
Howell was thrilled with the win even though he couldn’t find his co-manager when the fourth goal went in! He said: “The whole team were brilliant and the support, willing us on to get the goal and the scenes at the end when the goal when in… I was looking for Birms to shore things up and he was in the crowd! It’s been a tough season and I thought today even at 3-1 we were delighted with them at half-time. We tried to play the right way.
“Then in the second half we said we are going to be even braver and we played two at the back and pushed people forward and had a go — and we said if we get beat six we will take that as long as we are doing the right things. They worked so hard and I am really pleased for the boys. We have not had a lot of luck… some of it has been our own fault, but to get a win is fantastic for me, Birms and the whole club.”
Bognor Regis Town: 1 Ryan Hall, 2 Harvey Whyte (Jasper Mather 78′), 3 Spencer Spurway,
4 Preston Woolston, 5 Amadou Jallow 6 Chad Field, 7 Doug Tuck, 8 Matt Burgess (C), Lewis Beale (Tommy-Lee Higgs 61′), Dan Gifford, 11 Ollie Starkey. Subs: 12 Tommy-Lee Higgs, 14 Jasper Mather, 15 Tommy Block, 16 Jay Richardson.
