Bognor were winners at Nyewood Lane with a narrow scoreline of 1-0 as Tommy-Lee Higgs’s 44th-minute penalty was the difference between the sides, despite the hosts having many chances throughout the game.

After just 2 minutes it was Jasper Mather who dug out a cross and a deflection saw Charlie Brown gather it.

Then Bailey Smith used his pace down the right to get a low cross in from the right side this time but again Brown was equal to the cross and cut that out.

Calvin Davies tried a chipped pass over the defence looking for the run of Smith again but he strayed offside on 6 minutes.

On ten minutes it was a nice ball down the line by Tommy-Lee Higgs who found Mather to run through and shoot after he darted inside from the left.  Brown pushed it away and then Matt Burgess followed up with a shot high over the bar from the edge of the box.

Smith used his tricky pace again to drive in another cross of which Brown spilled out for a corner.

Burgess had another strike blocked from inside the area after some decent pressure but Bognor failed to capitalise on the following corner.

Another chipped pass by Davies saw him find Mather again and after good control he turned onto his left foot but his strike was denied on 16 minutes by Brown, who was well placed to save.

Higgs was blocked with yet another chance but again Burgess followed by shooting over the bar from outside the box.

Smith was causing all sorts of problems for Bowers in the first 20 minutes and cut in a cross that was knocked out for a corner but Burgess’ cross was searching for Harvey Rew but he didn’t find him.

Following another corner from Burgess it was Smith who got a shot away but it was well saved.

Bognor perhaps could have been awarded a penalty when Higgs went to ground after a challenge in the box in the build up to that chance, but the referee, well placed, decided not to award the spot kick.

Smith was tripped in the box by Ryan Richefond on 44 minutes.  The referee pointed straight to the spot and up stepped Tommy-Lee Higgs to curl the ball high into the net beyond a diving Brown to give Bognor the lead.

HT 1 – 0

Higgs found the incisive run on Dion Jarvis into the box and he did well to beat the back line but his low shot was smothered by Brown in the Bowers goal on 48 minutes.

Alfie Evans capitalised on a risky back pass by Harvey Whyte to shoot on the rise but his deflected strike was pushed away by Ryan Hall who didn’t have to do much at all in the first half.

Jarvis did well to get the ball to Burgess but his low strike was deflected wide by the boot of Yannis Ambroisine.

Thrn Whyte teed up Mather again through the visiting defence.  He ran through and hit it low at the near post and Brown got something to it to divert it off the post and wide on 58 minutes.

Mather put Brown under pressure running through off a forward ball but the goalkeeper got there first.

George Scales combined with Alex Teniola before curling a strike at goal but Hall was equal to it on 67 minutes.

A neat ball split the defence by Doug Tuck.  He found Mather who had a shot denied by Brown and then he was blocked by a defender on the rebound.

Davies capitalised on a loose clearance from Brown after he dashed out of his goal.  His long and dipping effort just flew wide of the right post but it was worth a go on 69 minutes.

Teniola did well to knock on a long range pass towards the path of TQ Addy who went to ground in the area but the referee didn’t give the penalty on 73 minutes.

Burgess knocked a right sided corner to the back post and Chad Field was there to shoot unmarked but his effort was blocked near the goalline on 76 minutes.

Tuck did well to put the ball over the defence for Mather to run through but from a tight angle it was the forward who chipped it wide of the back post with Dan Gifford threatening in the area.

Gifford pounced on the counter from a Bowers freekick and he turned well and held onto it to set Jarvis up on the overlap but he lost possession and fell to the ground and claims for a penalty were ignored.

Higgs struck wide as the Rocks looked for more goals.  Higgs then set up Gifford who made a good run but hit his low effort wide of the left post on 88 minutes.

But only 2 minutes were added to the end as Rocks saw out the win, holding possession deep into the Bowers half.  They got the three points and most importantly another clean sheet to help the goal difference.  They travel to Carshalton Athletic next on Saturday 1st March, with a 3pm kick off in search of more points to help the side climb the table.

FT 1 – 0