Southern Combination League Division One Cup Second Round
The Polegrove, Bexhill-on-Sea
Admission: £5.00
Programme: 50p
Attendance:
Ideally, I would have wanted to have seen the rematch of the RUR Cup Semi Final between Eastbourne Town and Lancing this evening, having been present when the original tie was abandoned on the hour mark. But not particularly impressed that spectators of the original tie were expected to pay full price again for the rematch, I decided to give that game a swerve, and pay a second visit to the Polegrove in less than a week, for an interesting looking cup tie.
A glance at the league table suggested that this would be a game between two evenly matched teams, who are both chasing down a top four spot in the league to take advantage of the additional promotion spots available this season. Bexhill were in fifth place, following 11 wins and six draws from their 23 league games, three points adrift of fourth placed Mile Oak, who had won 13 and drawn three of their 21 league games. In the league encounters between the two clubs, Bexhill triumphed 2-0 at home in October, whilst Mile Oak made home advantage count last month, with a 1-0 victory.
Once again this game had to survive a pitch inspection following heavy rain in recent days, but fortunately a spell of light rain late afternoon did not further threaten this match. Indeed, the pitch remained in remarkably good condition for a recreation ground, although it inevitably was tacky in places, with sand added in the small problem areas. Although it was dry throughout the match, it was certainly very cold, particularly when exposed to the wind, which made the stand an inviting place to seek shelter inside. In the end, this was a game that Bexhill pretty much controlled from start to finish, and they took the lead in 5 minutes with a fine strike from Jack McLean, drilling the shot from the edge of the area past the keeper's dive. They created several other really good chances, and had a strong looking appeal for a penalty turned down on 21 minutes, before they doubled their lead on 27 minutes, when a corner was deflected into his own net by the head of Stevens. Mile Oak had a great chance to pull a goal back virtually straight from kick off with a ball over the top, but the ball was struck over the bar. On 36 minutes, Bexhill had an even stronger shout for a penalty turned down, but they saw the half out relatively comfortably to hold a two goal advantage at the break.
Bexhil continued very much in the ascendancy after the break, continuing to create the majority of the goalscoring chances, and they thought they had scored a third on 57 minutes when a free kick from the right was headed home at the back post, but the goal was ruled out for offside. Mile Oak huffed and puffed without really threatening to pull a goal back, and on 87 minutes, Bexhill scored their third of the night, when Wes Tate took a touch on the edge of the area before picking his spot, firing the ball into the top right corner, to confirm Bexhill's passage to the next round, when a visit to Seaford Town awaits.
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