Southern Combination League Division One
The Polegrove, Bexhill-on-Sea
Admission: £5.00
Programme: £1.00
Attendance: 150
Attendance: 150
Still going through something of a honeymoon period, wanting to make the most of football being back and available to watch after four and a half months going without, and with Covid-19 infections back on the increase, not certain of how much longer I will be able to continue to do so, given the government's rather erratic handling of precautionary measures, I took in my second consecutive game this evening at The Polegrove.
There have been no significant changes to the ground since my last visit in February, although the summer months have certainly not improved the condition of the pitch, which was very sandy and quite bumpy in places. The programme was similar to last season, with the same cover, and was a decent read, with welcome messages from the home manager and chairman, an introduction to the visitors, history of football in Bexhill, and some league statistics.
After occupying fifth place in last season's abandoned season, Bexhill have had a perfect start to this season, winning their opening game 0-3 at Wick, and then 1-6 at Oakwood on Saturday. Shoreham were in eleventh place last season, though with games in hand on all bar one team above them, and drew 4-4 at home to Billingshurst in their only league game so far, but lost 9-1 at Alfold in the FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round.
Although it was another sunny evening at kick-off, it was noticeably cooler this evening compared with Tuesday night, with a very strong wind blowing across the ground which made things tricky for the players at times. Bexhill had the wind behind them in the first half, and it probably assisted the opening goal for Bexhill on 5 minutes, when a corner was whipped into the near post by Jamie Bunn, glancing off the top of a defender's head to divert the ball into the roof of his own net. The rest of the half was scrappy and increasingly niggly for the most part, with chances at a premium, although Bexhill say a bullet header from a corner go just over the bar on 13 minutes, and an excellent run from close to the half way line by a Shoreham player was only ended by a superb tackle by a defender in the box.
The second half continued to be rather scrappy, and the result looked in doubt right up until the 85th minute, when Bexhill made sure of the points when, following a corner, the ball was drilled in from the right and tapped into the net by Evan Archibald. They saw the remaining minutes out comfortably, for a win they deserved overall.
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