Point guarantees Blues Ryman Premier Football for next season

A 1-1 draw to title hopefules Bognor Regis was enough for Blues survival

Massive relief for everyone associated with Met as they forced a draw at Bognor thereby denying their hosts the chance to finish champions and gain automatic promotion. A loss for the Met would have left them in the relegation mix where only goals scored determined the team to go down. Great praise goes to Bognor for producing the best grass pitch we have encountered all season – even the goal mouths were fully grassed.

The game began, as expected with The Rocks exerting great pressure which set the pattern for the half as the Met set to frustrate the home team. For the Met Lloyd Macklin had an outstanding half working hard as the lone striker. Ollie Robinson was booked on 28 minutes for challenging the keeper as he kicked from his hands. Met had a slice of luck on 38 minutes when a header landed on the bar and was cleared to safety.

The second half followed a similar way but on 51 minutes the home team were shocked as slick inter passing between Roman Michael-Percil and Charlie Collins produced a great chance for Lloyd Macklin whose goal bound cross shot produced an excellent diving save by Lincoln but within 3 minutes Steve Sutherland made an equally heroic clearance off the line when a Bognor goal looked certain. But on 58 minutes the deadlock was broken by Muitt with an excellent drive from 15 yards to put Bognor ahead. Immediately Ola Sogbanmu replaced Ahmed Abdulla as the Met opened up in search of an equaliser. The game was now very entertaining and exciting and on 72 minutes Mekhail McLaughlin delivered a delightful cross from the left allowing Will Salmon to steal in at the back post for the equaliser and his first goal of the season. As the tension mounted Lloyd Macklin and Roman Michael-Percil went into the referees book. Late substitutions saw Rylan Myers and Anthony Kosakis replace Ollie Robinson and an exhausted Lloyd Macklin. A big shout for a penalty for Bognor was turned down by the referee in the 93rd minute as the Met saw out 5 minutes of added time and survival.