Bexhill United 4 v 0 Wick

Wednesday 7th October 2020, Kick-off 19.30
Sussex Senior Cup 1st Round

The Polegrove, Bexhill-on-Sea

Admission: £5.00

Programme: £1.00

Attendance: 168

This evening I took in my second Sussex Senior Cup tie on consecutive evenings, with my second visit of the season to The Polegrove, and the fourth time watching Bexhill United. 

It’s certainly a good time to be watching the Pirates, who are continuing their fabulous start to their season, and remain the only unbeaten club in the three divisions of the Southern Combination League. After I saw them win 1-2 at Seaford last Tuesday, they dispatched Arundel 6-0 at home, and with Littlehampton only drawing - only thanks to an injury time equaliser - at home to Seaford on Saturday, Bexhill climbed to the top of Division One, after six straight wins. Wick were one the clubs fancied to do well this season, so their start to their Division One campaign has been disappointing, winning one and drawing one of their five league games so far, although they did progress in the FA Vase, beating AFC Croydon Athletic 2-1 at home, and will play Saltdean United, of the Premier Division of the SCFL, at home in the next round on Saturday. When tonight's two clubs met in the opening game of this season, Bexhill won 0-3 away at Wick.

The programme has undergone a makeover since my previous visit three weeks ago, with a bright, colourful cover featuring the town's iconic De La Warr pavilion. Consisting of 32 pages, it's a decent read, with welcome messages from the chairman and manager, introduction to the opposition, stats and league information for the first team and younger age groups, as well as some interesting historical articles.

On an evening that was mild, starting dry but with ever increasing drizzle sweeping in, and with a gusty wind towards the end, kick off was delayed by about 5 minutes for one of the more unusual reasons - a Bexhill player being unable to remove his sovereign ring from his finger. Once the game finally did start, the opening was quite even, with Wick have a one on one chance smothered by the keeper on 5 minutes, but Bexhill took the lead on 13 minutes. A drilled shot from waist height was parried by the keeper, but only to the feet of Kyle Holden, who tucked the ball home. Three minutes later, and the home side put the ball in the net again following a quick break leaving two against one, but as the ball was laid off to a team mate who then rolled the ball home, the linesman put his flag up for offside. Shortly after, Jack MacLean drove in from the left wing and saw his low shot from a narrow angle go just wide of the far post. And indeed, Bexhill went on to create plenty of chances, finally doubling their lead on 35 minutes following a sprint down the middle, outpacing the defence before the ball was laid off to his team mate, 16 year old Freddie Legg, who tucked the ball home. And within a couple of minutes it was pretty much game over thanks to a mix up between the keeper and his defenders which saw the keeper spill the ball from his grasp near the edge of his area, and Evan Archibald stroked the ball into the unguarded net. Wick did have a great chance to pull a goal back on 40 minutes, Harry Williams' powerful header towards the top left corner forcing an excellent save at full stretch by the Bexhill keeper. But they would certainly have a mountain to climb after the break to force penalties.

As it turned out, the second half saw Bexhill comfortably maintaining their lead, as Wick never threatened to get a goal back after the break, and it was Bexhill who had created the few chances that came along. And with virtually the last kick of the game, Bexhill scored their fourth by winger Maclean, who showed good football before lashing the ball low across the keeper and inside the far post. And so Bexhill look forward to the next round following a commanding performance this evening.