Bexhill suffer 'gut-wrenching' defeat'

The Pirates led by a Drew Greenall to nil at half time only to concede twice during the second period of a Macron Store Southern Combination Football League Division Two fixture in which fortune wasn’t on their side.

Light said: “It was a gut-wrenching defeat. Football’s such fine margins, and sometimes you just need that little bit of luck and we didn’t have it. They couldn’t believe they were walking out of The Polegrove with three points.

“The effort the players put into that game was fantastic, but sometimes you don’t get what you deserve and we didn’t deserve to lose.”

The first half was fairly even, but the better chances fell to Bexhill. Greenall put them ahead in the 25th minute by drilling the ball through the goalkeeper’s legs having been put through by a lovely ball from Wayne Giles.

“We would’ve really backed ourselves from that point,” continued Light. “We seem to be developing into a second half team in recent games and in that regard we were delighted at half time.”

Storrington levelled in the 55th minute with their first real attempt at goal. Joe Warner converted what Light described as a ‘very soft’ penalty.

The same player grabbed the visitors’ winner 17 minutes later. A rushed kick from Bexhill goalkeeper Dan Rose was picked up by a Storrington player, who drove down the right and delivered a low cross for Warner to knock home.

Bexhill pushed for an equaliser, but just couldn’t unlock the door, even though one free kick ended with the away goalkeeper laying on the goal-line with the ball clamped between his feet.

Light was also angry that for the second time in five weeks, a Bexhill player, in this case Connor Robertson, was booked for diving when he was convinced a penalty should’ve been awarded.

“They’ve got stud marks on them and they’re getting booked for diving,” Light added. “The standard of the officiating isn’t what you would expect at this level.

“We played well second half. We’ve played worse than that and won this year. We passed the ball well on a wet pitch and created far more chances than them.”

Bexhill: Rose; Robertson, Kidman (Willis), McFarlane, Ottley; Gouet, Giles (Butchers), Cuddington, Holden, Wheeler; Greenall. Sub not used: Rayner.

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