Eastleigh v Bognor Regis Town

MONDAY 24th MARCH 2008

BLUE SQUARE SOUTH

On this Easter Monday, Eastleigh came up against their ‘local’ rivals Bognor Regis Town buoyed by Saturday’s terrific 2-1 away win at Newport County. 

Luke Byles returned from suspension to play alongside Ashley Vickers at the heart of the defence, filling a void left by the injured Anthony Riviere who was withdrawn just twenty three minutes into the Newport game two days ago. Mark Marshall missed out due to an accident at home that led to the electrifying winger in need of stitches to his feet. This meant there was a starting place for Matt Hann who came into the side and impressed with his pace and liveliness from the off. 

Four minutes into the game, Peter Adeniyi chipped a well-placed pass into the path of Hann, who had made a positive run into the area to bring the ball down with a good early touch. However, the former St. Albans man was unable to take advantage of this early opportunity thanks to late pressure from a Bognor centre half who did just enough to put the winger off his shot. 

Two early corner kicks from the hosts were far too deep to pose any problems for the Rocks, but at least Eastleigh were set out to show their early intent in keeping Bognor back in their own half. 

Paul Sales and David Hughes worked an opening from a neat interchange between the pair that saw Sales bring the ball down with his chest before rolling the ball back into the path of Hughes to complete the one-two. The latter had got into a good position following the pleasing move though the end product was unfortunately not there on this occasion. 

Consistent with the start to the game thus far, Eastleigh continued the pattern of attacking and piling on the early pressure as Sales’ drop-down header for Karl Murray was fired goalwards by a powerfully struck volley that ricocheted off Peter Adeniyi and may well have been heading in. This latest chance coming with just ten minutes on the clock. 

Michael Birmingham’s Bognor were given very little time on the ball due to constant closing down high up the park from Eastleigh and as a direct result, the visitors were mere spectators as Eastleigh continued to dominate the first quarter of the encounter. 

On twenty minutes, Matt Hann produced a decent save out of Craig Stoner as he cut in from the left flank before firing a well-driven strike with his right foot only for the Bognor keeper to watch the ball safely into his arms. 

Centre half Ashley Vickers, came extremely close with two headers within a minute of each other. The first came from Andy Harris’ sweeping cross from the right back position that sat up nicely for the veteran defender and former Weymouth captain to nod a free header inches wide of goal. The effort took a slight deflection on the way meaning a corner kick for Eastleigh. From it, Matt Hann received the ball short but was caught by a mistimed challenge from Scott Chamberlain to win a free kick. Hughes floated the ball across goal and into the penalty area where Vickers popped up, attacking the delivery well, narrowly missing the target with another good header that came agonisingly close once more. 

Bognor’s first chance did not come until the 26^th minute when Mark Knee failed to get hold of his shot, providing Jason Matthews with a comfortable save low down. The new number one quickly got the ball back up the field with superb distribution for Andy Forbes to bring down and feed through for his strike partner, Paul Sales. The in-form goalscoring machine lost his footing and nothing came of it, despite the Bognor defence being cut right open so simply from two passes. 

Eastleigh still had the ascendancy long into the half as Sales tried to turn Peter Adeniyi’s cross home with an attempted overhead kick that was blocked on the goalline in the 32^nd minute. The ball was still not cleared as Sales tried to hook the ball towards goal whilst on the floor before the danger was eventually averted. 

Just before the break Adeniyi came close with a header that flashed right across the face of goal following an excellent ball in from the right.

HALF TIME – Eastleigh 0-0 Bognor Regis Town

A minute into the second half, the visitors threatened first as Mark Knee combined with Scott Harris, whose curling attempt from the edge of the penalty area came close, but slightly off target. 

Bognor were already showing signs of looking like a different side and this was confirmed when they so nearly made Eastleigh pay for a moments lapse in concentration in the back line. Two Rocks players were played on side and had got in behind the Spitfires defence until Jason Matthews came to his side’s aid, rushing from his goal to intervene with a brave header at the edge of his eighteen-yard box. The loose ball fell to former Eastleigh player Alex Haddow who rifled the ball harmlessly over the top with the goal at his mercy. 

At the opposite end, Eastleigh’s first chance of note in the second half came from David Hughes’ close ball control and footwork on the far side by the corner flag where he worked a yard of space to send a delightful cross into the penalty area. The ball came back out as far as Hann who skipped past one opponent and then had his shot charged down. 

What proved to be the deciding goal came in the 54^th minute. Jason Matthews showed superb vision with his pin point long kick up the park to find Sales who knocked the ball down for ANDY FORBES to poke the ball past the keeper with a neat finish for his fifteenth league goal of the season. 

Credit to Bognor for the way they responded to going a goal down. The visitors really gave of their all from this point on keeping Eastleigh largely on the back foot, who were prepared to sit back and ground out the result by means of holding on to their slender lead. 

Luke Byles sent Dan Beck tumbling shortly after the goal in a central position, 25 yards out. Alex Haddow stepped up for the free kick to bend around the wall but there was no way past Matthews who watched it all the way saving at his near post. 

In the 64^th minute, Knee stretched out a leg to connect with Haddow’s diagonal ball from deep, looking to loop the ball over the head of Matthews to show good improvisation. The execution was not quite good enough to pull it off however, as Matthews was left with a simple catch. 

Luke Nightingale’s introduction from the substitutes bench for the visitors coincided with yet more pressure on Eastleigh’s goal as Michael Birmingham added more attacking prowess numerically, changing to a 4-3-3 formation. 

The three forwards up top provided that much more for the Eastleigh defence to think about, led by Nightingale who immediately got into the action with a centre from the right hand side that had to be turned behind for a corner from Matt Hann. 

Eastleigh did have one rare chance having been pegged back for such a long time, this coming in the form of an Andy Harris free kick that went just wide of the post. 

Andy Forbes actually played in three positions throughout the game, the goalscorer dropping back to play on the left of midfield when Warren McBean came on for Hughes midway through the half and then finishing the game at centre half as Vickers made way for Fitzroy Simpson later on. Not once did he let the side down showing not just goalscoring exploits, which we all know about, but also his great versatility. 

Eastleigh continued to soak up the pressure with a cross from Charlie Balfe having to be punched clear by Matthews and then Simpson throwing himself in front of the ball to stop the follow up. 

FULL TIME – Eastleigh 1-0 Bognor Regis Town 

JAMIE MONTIGUE