Southern Combination League Premier Division
The Polegrove, Bexhill-on-Sea
Admission: £6.00
Programme: £1.00
Attendance: 186
For this midweek's action, I paid my first visit of the season to The Polegrove for this rearranged fixture, after the original fixture, played at Hailsham Town's ground The Beaconsfield, was rather controversially abandoned on 75 minutes when the lights in one of the six floodlight pylons went out - with Lingfield three goals to the good and cruising to a very comfortable victory.
It was a race against time to host this game at The Polegrove this evening, with the cricket club's final match of the season taking place on Sunday, following which the football pitch railings and floodlight pylons had to be reinstalled along the cricket field side of the ground. And it would be quite a historic evening, the first time in 27 years that Step 5 football has been hosted at The Polegrove.
Bexhill came into this game in 12th place in the table, following three wins and a draw from their opening seven league games, whilst Lingfield were a place lower, also with two wins and a draw so far, but have played a game less.
On a clear and mild evening, the first half was an enjoyable affair, with plenty of attacking intent, and with just two minutes on the clock, a Bexhill player dispossessed a Lingfield player in midfield, ran down the left before unleashing a powerful shot which was parried by the keeper. On 20 minutes, the Bexhill keeper Dan Rose pulled off two remarkable reflex saves in quick succession to deny Lingfield an opening goal, whilst two minutes later, a Bexhill free-kick by Jack Shonk struck the crossbar. On 25 minutes, a Bexhill low cross along the six yard box evaded a tap in by several players, and a fairly weak shot beyond the far post was parried by the keeper. But in the half hour mark, Bexhill took the lead with a rather controversial goal. A free kick was lofted from their own half into the penalty area, and with the Lingfield defenders appealing for offside, Shonk controlled the ball before firing past the keeper. The home side thought they had doubled their lead a minute before half time, but this time the linesman did raise his flag for offside.
Within a couple of minutes of the restart, the visitors levelled the scoreline when a cross from the left took a deflection, and James Allen fired into the roof of the net. Whilst Bexhill had marginally the better of things in the first half, Lingfield were looking the more likely to press on in the second half, but as it looked like the game would end with the points shared, it was Bexhill who grabbed what turned out to be the winner on 83 minutes when the Lingfield keeper let the ball squirm away from his grasp, allowing Evan Archibald to take the ball away and around the keeper before striking it into the net. Lingfield tried to push for an equaliser, but it never really looked like coming in the remaining minutes, and so Bexhill rose to eighth in the table and settling down well in the Premier Division after a fairly shaky start in the opening weeks. For their part, Lingfield will feel aggrieved at losing after being virtually assured of the three points in the original game, and that the goals that defeated them this evening were down to a questionable call by the linesman (although it was later seemingly proven to be a correct decision) and a goalkeeping error.
No comments:
Post a Comment