Bexhill United 0 v 0 Oakwood

Bexhill United won 3-1 on penalties

Wednesday 25th October 2023, Kick-off 19.30
Sussex RUR Charity Cup Round Three
The Polegrove, Bexhill-on-Sea
Admission: £7.00
Programme: £1.50
Attendance: 88

For this week's midweek entertainment, I headed down to The Polegrove for my second visit of the season, fot a cup tie between two clubs who have made quite disappointing starts to their seasons.

After two top seven finishes in the Southern Counties League Premier Division, Bexhill United have suffered from losing their manager Ryan Light and many of their more experienced players, with a younger team taking time to adapt. They were second bottom of the table going into this game, having won just two and drawn two of their 13 league games, but in the previous round, they had beaten AFC Uckfield 0-3 back in August. Oakwood are in their 15th consecutive season in Division One, a division below Bexhill, and this season they were second bottom in the table, having only won two and lost their other 12 league games so far. They had received a bye in the first round of this competition.

On a mild evening, this was an entertaining game that Bexhill dominated for long periods, creating plenty of chances as Oakwood were indebted to their goalkeeper, who made several excellent saves to keep the scoreline level, and would probably be man of the match tonight. Oakwood deserved credit for battling away and although it did look like it was only a matter of time before their defences were breached, they held out and gave themselves a chance of unlikely progression when the match ended goalless after 90 minutes, and the tie went straight to a penalty shoot-out.

With Oakwood stepping up first, they missed their first penalty, which handed the initiative to the home side. Bexhill scored their first two, but both sides then missed their third penalty. Oakwood also missed their fourth, and Bexhill scored their, to seal their passage to the next round, when they will host another Division One club, Roffey, in mid November.