East Sussex League Premier Division
Sidley Recreation Ground, Bexhill-on-Sea
Admission: None
Programme: None
Attendance: 65 (rough head count)
For my opening game of "silly season" this year, I opted to take in my second Bexhill derby on consecutive nights, with a revisit to a ground that I visited whilst I was “walking my dog” as we were coming out of one of the Covid lockdowns in spring 2021.
Bexhill AAC came into this game in a lowly eighth position in the table out of 11 clubs, although that is probably something of a false position, as they have between three and seven games in hand on all clubs above them. They had won ten and drawn four of their 10 league games so far. For that reason, a top three finish is certainly not out of the question. Sidley United have led a nomadic existence since they were obliged to vacate their previous home at The Gullivers back in 2013, a move which also forced their demotion from the Sussex County League, back in 2013, and after spending three seasons in the Mid Sussex League, their ambitions to rejoin the senior divisions of what is now the Southern Combination League seem as distant as ever, with no sign of a home ground being built (and with The Gullivers laying shamefully abandoned), and they voluntarily moved back to the East Sussex League, with official promotion only leading back to the Mid Sussex League, or the intermediate level Southern Combination League Division Two. They came into this game in sixth place, following seven wins and a draw from their 17 league games.
On a sunny evening but with a stiff breeze blowing across this rather exposed ground, Bexhill opened the scoring on 32 minutes when a corner was met at the far post with a firm header by Ben Ferguson to send the ball into the back of the net. It seemed that Sidley had equalised just three minutes later, when an inswinging free kick from wide right seemed to go through a crowd of players and past the keeper into the net, but the linesman raised his flag for offside. But they did equalise on 39 minutes, when a free kick was lifted into the box and Andy Atkin guided the ball home with a header. The half time whistle blew on 40 minutes, with a fairly quick turnaround for half time, in consideration of the fading light to come.
On 51 minutes, Sidley took the lead, when Logan Copley delivered an excellent free kick, and which Steve Mote met with a glancing header to divert the ball inside the far post. On 67 minutes, it was Bexhill's turn to have a goal disallowed, when a free kick was headed on and tapped home, but the linesman flagged for a push. Both sides had chances to score in the remaining minutes, but Sidley held on, relatively comfortably in the end, to consolidate their sixth place in the table.
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