Blues 1 Bognor Regis Town 1

League leaders Bognor Regis Town made the trip down to Victory Road on Saturday and left with a point thanks to a last gasp equaliser from James Wild writes Ollie Fairs. Blues skipper Tom Bullard had given the Blues the lead just six minutes from time before the late leveller in a MATCH SPONSORED BY ALLGLASS (ANGLIA) LIMITED.

The two teams were very evenly matched and this was clear from the start, with both teams having good spells throughout the first half. Bognor made the better start and had a lot of the ball early on. However, the Leiston defence stood firm and restricted them too very few chances. Bognor’s best chance came when a ball fell loose in the box following a corner and twice a player in white got on the end of it, but both times the shot was bravely blocked by a Leiston defender. Leiston then started to create chances of their own, Ollie Brown having his shot blocked after he raced into the box to get on the end of a cross. Blues keeper Jacob Marsden was called upon a few times in the first half as he made several great saves, the highlight being his diving save to keep James Muitt’s shot out of the net.

The second half was also a very tight affair with the two teams seemingly cancelling each other out. Leiston were in control of the game for the majority of the second period although chances for them came at a premium. Adeyinka Cole played a lovely cross field ball out to Seb Dunbar on the left wing, but his first-time cross was headed clear by a Bognor defender. Second half substitute Patrick Brothers also had a good chance but his stinging shot from distance was deflected out for a corner. The game came to life in the 80th minute when a red card was flashed to the Bognor defender Chad Field after Referee Adrian Sannerude had called over the Bognor number 6 for an off the ball altercation inside the Blues box. The Blues then looked to make the most of their one-man advantage and pushed on to try and score the first goal of the game. Gareth Heath came close when his free kick from the edge of the box was tipped round the post by the Bognor keeper Dan Lincoln. However, from the resulting corner Leiston scored the opening goal of the game. The ball was swung in by Gareth Heath and a near post flick to the far post fell kindly and bounced off the chest of the on rushing Tom Bullard before nestling in the back of the net giving the Blues the lead in the 84th minute. The game was not over yet though and four minutes into injury time a ball was sent deep into the Leiston box and the Bognor goalkeeper Daniel Lincoln, who had come up for an earlier free kick, rose well but saw his header finger tipped onto the bar by Jacob Marsden only for the rebound to fall to James Wild who had the simple job of heading the ball home denying Leiston what would have been a superb win.

FT - Blues 1 Bognor Regis Town 1

Blues - Marsden, Brown, Dunbar, Ainsley, Jefford, Bullard, Cole (Brothers 73 mins), Heath, Blake, Muir-Merchant, Francis (Hubble 73 mins). Subs not used - Hutchings, Pelling and Lay-Fulcher.

Bognor Regis Town - Lincoln, Whyte, Crane, Tuck (Moone 90 mins), Charman, Field, Fraser, Beck, Muitt (Haynes-Brown 70 mins), Pearce (Wild 62 mins), Davies. Subs not used - Budd and Parsons.

Match Sponsors ALLGLASS (ANGLIA) LIMITED Man of the Match - Jack Ainsley

Attendance - 349