The young striker lifted the mood at Bognor thanks to his treble and offered some relief to Robbie Blake’s side after a poor start to their Isthmian premier division campaign which sees them currently sitting second from bottom.
Higgs cracked home his first on 15 minutes with a telling assist from midfielder Matt Burgess and doubled the visitors’ lead on 33 minutes from the penalty spot after Jasper Mather was fouled — and, again, following excellent work from Burgess.
It was 3-0 on 52 minutes as the tie was put beyond the hosts when Higgs stepped up to fire home a free-kick from the edge of the box.
It was a win that was much needed after the 2-1 reverse brought about by a below-par performance on Bank Holiday Monday against Chichester City in the West Sussex derby.
In that game, Blake lost the services of both Spencer Spurway and Craig Robson and as a result signed central defenders Delwin Duah and Essa Janneh — and the former started this game alongside Tyler Edmondson. Ryan Hall returned in goal after recovering from his shoulder injury, but Harvey Whyte was a late withdrawal in the warm-up.
Boss Blake was delighted with the win. He told Rocks Radio’s Peter Kelly-Sullivan: “It was important to get the win and be in the draw coming on the back of results so far this season. Monday was a tough day for us, so we have to give the players a lot of credit today to respond in a difficult game away from home in the FA Cup.
“Hopefully, this is a spring board — it’s baby steps, we know that but hopefully players will get a little more confidence and belief and that can ignite our season.”
Calvin Davies delivered a captain’s performance and Blake praised his skipper. He added: “He very infectious, he’s great — he loves the club and he believes in the club and that’s the type of character you need. I said to the players before the game, ‘we need men, we need players with the right mentality’. In the first half, with the gale force wind we had to deal with, we controlled the game and we took our chances. Overall we are so pleased to get the win, get the clean sheet.”
On returning No.1 Hall and goal ace Higgs, Blake said: “It was so nice to have Ryan back, he just gives us more confidence and so much more belief. Tommy’s brilliant, he has got that knack that real quality and he is a great finisher; he’s a very goof player.”
But it was a defender who caught the eye of the gaffer. He added: “I thought Tyler for me was man of the match — Tommy gets the headlines of course, but Tyler — from a defensive point of view when we have been giving soft goals away — has stepped up and been a man; he was immense, he is so talented and he has been a really good addition for us.”
Rocks are back in league action next Saturday when Wingate & Finchley are the visitors to Nyewood Lane.
Bognor Regis Town: 1 Ryan Hall, 14 Doug Tuck (Callum Barlow 57′), 3 Hayden Gale, 4 Calvin Davies, 5 Delwin Duah, 6 Tyler Edmondson, 7 Rocco Gamblin, & Matt Burgess, 9 Dan Gifford (Essa Janneh 69′), 10 Tommy-Lee Higgs (Finn Evans 62′), 11 Jasper Mather. Subs: 12 Callum Barlow, 15 Essa Janneh, 16 Finn Evans.
*Our pictures show Higgs collecting his man of the match bubbly from Peter Kelly-Sullivan from Rocks Radio.
Pic: Lyn & Trev
