Angels rocked by late Bognor winner

This was a match to grace Non-League Day with plenty of attacking football on show between two sides who will surely both be involved in the end of season shake up.

Almost straight from the kick off the hosts took the initiative with decent chances falling to Adem Ramadan and Jared Small but the visitors were quick to react with Mason Walsh close with a header in the 7th minute followed by a Bradley Lethbridge effort just a minute later.

Tommy Whitnell should have done better when presented with the ball following a short Bognor back pass but perhaps arguably the best chance so far fell to Rocks skipper Harvey Whyte after 20 minutes the ball being blocked by Whitnell.

After some good Bognor possession suddenly the Angels gave their supporters something to cheer when Joe Turner’s excellent cross from the right saw the on rushing Alex Read just screw his shot wide in the 30th minute and then 4 minutes later Daniel Lincoln went walkabout allowing Jared Small from an angle to see his effort go inches wide of an empty net.

The high quality football continued after the break with chances falling for Lethbridge for the visitors and James Folkes for the Angels both within the first three minutes of the half.

Eventually something had to give although it was something of a gift for Bognor when for some reason defender Sonny Miles seemed to slow down to present Lethbridge with the easiest of chances to put Bognor ahead on 51 minutes.

But the Angels were in certainly no mood to give up the fight and started to come much more into the game putting the Bognor defence under some pressure. The equaliser was coming and in the 67th minute Ramadan combined with Turner to set up Alex Read who accurately fired past Lincoln.

At this stage it looked possible that Tonbridge would grab all the points but following a long stoppage due to an ugly foul on keeper Henly, Walsh fired a 25 yarder daisy cutter past substitute Stewart Copeland in the 90th minute and all the points were going back to Bognor

Angels manager Steve McKimm Angels manager said : I thought we were a bit tentative in the first half with one of two players hiding but second half we played much more to our potential.

Robbie Blake, The Rocks Assistant Manager said: “I thought we were the better team in the 1st half but it was a more even affair 2nd half and we were under a bit of pressure once they got their equaliser but to get the winner in stoppage time was reward for our efforts over the match.”