PEARCE’S LATE STRIKE RESCUES THE ROCKS
COACH Darrin Kilpartrick praised his side’s defensive will as Bognor Regis receovered from squandering a 2-0 lead.
Two goals in 11 minutes midway through the second half pulled City level, only for Ollie Pearce to win it for the home side with a fine free-kick nine minutes from time.
Kilpatrick, though, was more impressed with the Rocks’ work at the other end of the field as the Isthmian League play-off winners kicked off their Step 2 campaign with a win.
He told The NLP: “It was a bit like a game of basketball at times. However, we stopped passing in the second half the way that we wanted, which was disappointing, but one thing I did say to the lads was the fact that they stuck together defending the lead.
“They threw the kitchen sink at us and we dealt with it in a way that replicated the team cohesion that we have got.
On the season as a whole he went on to say: “Let’s survive this league. It’s a tough league. We’re not getting excited one bit.”
Bognor took the lead on 23 minutes, Dan Beck won the ball in Bognor’s half to thread it down the line to Pearce. He passed it on to impressive new boy Ben Swallow, who from the left cut the ball back on a plate for Alex Parsons to give Bognor the lead.
It got better for Bognor when a defensive header fell straight to Jimmy Muitt, who shrugged off his defender before belting it low into the bottom left corner on 27 minutes to make it 2-0.
Bath’s Marvin Morgan rocket shot on the turn, saw the ball bounce off the corner frame.
But the visitors did pull a goal back on 60 minutes. Nat Jarvis powered a shot low into the net from a Morgan pass. Bath eventually got an equaliser on 71 minutes. Andy Watkins found himself in space after a run and blasted the ball high into the net to draw level.
The game looked set to end in a draw when the referee gave Bognor a freekick 25 yards out.
Up stepped Pearce to smash it high into the topright corner on 81 minutes to the delight of the Bognor fans.
Bath had the ball in the net deep into stoppage time after goalkeeper Dan Lincoln had parried the ball into the air and he was fouled while trying to gather it.
The ball was scrambled into the net but the referee disallowed it for a foul on the goalkeeper.