Bognor Regis 2-0 Potters Bar Town: Spirited performance not enough as Bar lose on the South coast

Malik Yansaneh’s first game in charge of the Scholars saw Bar fall to defeat against Bognor Regis.

The Scholars were able to compete with the hosts for the vast majority of the tie, but two defensive errors proved costly for Yansaneh’s side.

Bar nearly got themselves off to the perfect start when Amine Sassi was able to get on the end of a pass in the first minute and tried to lob Amadou Tangara in goal but could only aim his shot over the bar.

Ciaran Gordon-Stearn was first called into action for The Scholars in the 8th minute, palming away a curling effort from the edge of the area.

The visitors countered quickly to give Tangara his first test in goal too as Luke Joyce-Dwarika picked out Sassi who was able to force a save from The Rocks’ number one.

Bognor had the ball in the net through Gifford in the 11th minute, but his headed effort was ruled out as the flag as up for offside against the striker.

Gordon-Stearn was alert to make a good save to deny Nathan Odokonyero who cut in from the left-hand side to shoot.

Sassi proved himself to be a threat to the hosts’ backline once again when he raced through on goal courtesy of a pass from Bilal Sayoud, but the attacker was tackled just as he looked to get his shot away.

Dwight Pascal defended a cross that had Gordon-Strearn beaten expertly well to keep the game goalless, as he turned behind a cross from the right-hand side.

Despite Hafed Al Droubi being injured, Bar’s stand-in keeper was able to thwart Gifford once again with an important stop as the game approached the half an hour mark.

Pascal then took his turn to stop The Rocks’ number ten from scoring, blocking an effort on the line that had beaten the keeper.

The Scholars then went close to scoring themselves up the other end as Jaden Sharman’s fizzed cross was aimed for Sassi at the back post who just needed to connect with it to score.

He was not able to meet the ball and put the visitors in front however.

Just before the break Samson Esan had the ball in the net for Bar, but a controversial foul was awarded against him in favour of Joe Dandy in the build up to chalk off the goal.

Bar were level at the break and deservedly so, with the first 45 minutes a very even contest in which both sides had good chances which were well defended by the opponents, leaving all to play for at the interval.

Half time score: Bognor Regis 0-0 Potters Bar Town

The first significant moment of the second half saw Bar let off as possession was gifted to the hosts, only for the flag to be raised against Gifford to prevent him giving Bognor the lead.

Esan curled an effort towards goal from the edge of the area, but he narrowly missed the target.

Sayoud ran at the heart of the Bognor defence and elected to shoot when he had options available, which turned out to be the wrong decision as his effort went wide.

In the 59th minute Jordy Mongoy broke the deadlock to give The Rocks the lead. A low driven cross from the right-hand side went past the defence and allowed the striker time and space to slot the ball home for the hosts.

Three minutes later Kieron Cathline and Pascal made strong blocks to deny Bognor from doubling their lead.

After an impressive defensive showing on the day Pascal had the chance to get an equaliser at the back post from a corner, but he headed just wide.

The hosts flashed a cross into the box aimed for Calvin Davies in the final 15 minutes, but he could not quite get on the end of it to make it 2-0.
Two minutes later Sayoud had a shot from the edge of the box but he fired wide.

Dan Gifford had the goal his performance deserved in the 80th minute to double the host’s lead, with a goal that was virtually a carbon copy of the first, as the striker arrived at the back post after a missed clearance to score.

Luke Tingey made a fantastic recovery tackle to deny substitute Kayne Diedrick-Roberts getting a third for Bognor late on in the game.

Full time saw Bar fall to defeat but with an encouraging performance that will have given Interim Manager Malik Yansaneh hope ahead of an important string of home games starting with Folkstone Invicta on the 29th of January.

The performance also pleased Adam Waller. The Director of the club helped to oversee Yansaneh’s appointment on an interim basis on Thursday.