Broadbridge Heath 1-2 Eastbourne United

Heaths eight game unbeaten run in the SCFL Premier division came to an end on Saturday after a narrow 2-1 home defeat to Eastbourne United who extend their own unbeaten run in the division to thirteen matches.

The visitors started well, had a lot of possession but couldn’t break down the solid Heath defence marshalled by the experienced Mark Zydonik but despite the pressure it was Heath who had the first real goal scoring opportunity of the match in the 12th minute when Alfie Jones received the ball from Conor Baston 8 yards from goal, he turned his marker and got off a left foot shot that lacked pace and was gathered easily by the Eastbourne keeper low to his left.

The opening goal was scored in the 17th minute when Kyle Sim launched the ball from a throw in his own half, an Eastbourne defender mis-timed his header and only managed to flick the ball straight into the path of Lewis Croal who allowed it to bounce once before smashing a right foot shot from 12 yards into the bottom left corner of the net and it remained that way at the break.

The hosts again came out looking the stronger of the two sides but without really troubling Heath’s keeper Liam Matthews, that all changed midway through the half when United attacked down the right side of the pitch, a cross came in and struck Zydonik, an appeal for handball was made by the Eastbourne player and the Assistant Linesman acknowledged by raising his flag, after consulting with the Match Referee a penalty kick was awarded, it looked a harsh decision but how many of those did we see on TV in the Premier division over the weekend? Max Thompson stepped up to convert the kick and it was all square.

Heath had a great chance to regain the lead 5 minutes later when Jamie Taylor played a lovely pass across the face of goal but Conor Baston missed his shot and Mason Doughty stabbed the ball wide of target.

The winning goal was scored it the 78th minute when a poor ball forward from defence was intercepted by a defender and played out wide on the left to Tigana Quebe who skipped past two challenges before crossing the ball from the touchline allowing Thompson to score his second of the game with a header into the top right of the net out of Matthews reach.

In the closing minutes a late tackle on Taylor right in front of the Eastbourne dugout resulted in a confrontation of players and management on the pitch, a lot of pushing and shoving and it all ended with red cards being shown to United’s Alfie Headland, Manager Anthony Storey and Heath Assistant Manager Kristian Sorensen. With the extra man Heath had a couple of chances to draw level in the closing stages but nothing that troubled the United keeper too much.

So The Bears unbeaten run comes to an end, we remain in 7th place and look forward to welcoming The Lions from Pagham in our next match at The Countryside Stadium on Saturday 18th December.

Team: Matthews, Baston (Frankland 75), Gibson (Watts 57), Terry, Sim, Zydonik, Jones, Blake, Croal (Mason 70), Taylor, Parmiter.