THE VICKERS HOLD HIGH FLYING BOGNOR

The Vickers earned a well deserved point against promotion hopefuls Bognor Regis with a determined performance, including new signings Derek Duncan, Jeff Imndia and Ola Bankole, who all impressed in their new surroundings. After their fantastic exploits in the FA Trophy, the visitors were out and out favourites in this game, but VCD didn’t let them get fully into their stride and their usual fluency was missing for much of the game, with the hosts keeping the game at high tempo and more than matching their opponents. The Vickers opened brightly with Alex Kelly testing keeper Grant Smith before, from a throw, the ball was worked in to Malachi Hudson whose shot was headed behind. The Vickers were pressing high, catching the Rocks offside on a number of occasions but on 17 minutes, they sprung the trap with Ollie Pearce breaking down the right in space, where his low cross into the box was met by Jason Prior who fired home from close range. Then Stuart Green set up Pearce in a good position, but his effort was deflected narrowly wide. This was followed by a disappointment for VCD when Alex Kelly came away with the ball before releasing Derek Duncan whose cross hung on the wind, and as Ricky Sappleton jumped, keeper Grant Smith flapped and missed the ball with it ending up in the net, but the referee disallowed it for who knows what as it looked a perfectly good goal, much to the disappointment of the Vickers players. Vickers kept pressing, creating some half chances, and just before the break got their reward when the ball was worked forward to Hudson on the left flank and his quick ball in was handled by Calvin Davies, and Ricky Sappleton stepped up to fire the spot kick low into the corner past Smith. VCD almost made it two shortly after when the impressive Imndia broke and crossed into the box where Sappleton cushioned a header back to Richard Avery, but his fierce volley was finger-tipped over by the keeper.
VCD had a chance straight after the restart when Ola Bankole chased a ball down the left and as Smith raced from his line, he touched it past the keeper but agonisingly just past an upright. Both sides were looking for a second goal and the Rocks had a number of good moves up to the area, but a combination of good defending and wayward shooting kept the scores level, with the VCD rear-guard looking comfortable with what was thrown at them as the visitors began to look somewhat lethargic. Home keeper Rob Budd saved from Stuart Green, and then, immediately after, Prior picked up a loose ball on the left and played in Green, but he horribly miscued with the goal gaping. Bognor won a number of corners but Budd was commanding in the swirling wind, and when they did have a chance from Prior’s header, the keeper made an excellent point blank save to deny Alfie Rutherford. Then came a poor moment in the match when Doug Tuck showed his frustration for the visitors with a dangerous straight legged challenge on Jeff Imndia who was down for some minutes receiving treatment, leaving the referee no option but to show Tuck a red card. A disappointing challenge as the match was played in the right spirit, but VCD were unable to make the extra man count,with both sides comfortably seeing out the remainder of the game for a point apiece.

VCD Athletic: Budd, Imndia, Probets (Brickwood 46), Avery, Bruce, Joseph, Kelly, Duncan, Sappleton, Bankole, Hudson

Subs not used: Huxter, Nwokeji, Menga, Tchonang

Attendance: 135