AT THE MATCH: BEXHILL UNITED V HORSHAM YMCA

A match report courtesy of @jonsmalldon

“They’re not scared of you any more …” so said someone on the sidelines to Bexhill manager Ryan Light as his team emerged for the second half. A rare example of a positive farewell for a manager, this was Light, and his assistant’ John Masters last home match in charge after seven successful seasons that have seen United rise about as far up the pyramid as its possible to do whilst remaining at the Polegrove. So today was about paying what you liked as you entered, signing up for the meat raffle (“It’s fresh, we only bought it this morning”) and imbibing your drink of choice. There was also some football which, after falling behind, the home side won.

This was another of those false summer days. The sun was bright but the air deceptively chilly. Still, there was an end of term vibe to the day and a decent crowd just shy of 200 turned up. I have a memory that when I first came along to the Polegrove, the home side were averaging under half of that. And it’s not just the wins that bring people along – within the constraints of the set-up, the club have done quite remarkable things in transforming the clubhouse and the whole ‘match day experience’ as it would be called further up the food chain.

But we did have a match. The first half didn’t really cohere for either side although there were intermittent sparks that something may be about to happen. It took until after half time – maybe the players did still need to be shouted at – for things to improve. Horsham scored first on fifty minutes through a superbly worked goal that was finished off by Thomas Hearn. The lead lasted barely five minutes before Evan Archibald equalised from the penalty spot. Eight minutes later Archibald doubled his tally and ended the scoring for the day with a chip over the advancing Arron Jeal.

In the final half hour both teams, neither with anything to play for in the standings, really went for it. Bexhill had the edge in terms of chances but the match was end to end for its final session. Deep into injury time Horsham’s Hayden Neatley picked up a straight red for clipping an attacker bearing down on the goal and, after a few stern words between players and officials that was it all done. Light’s final match at the Polegrove as Bexhill manager ending with a win.

Between then and writing this, Horsham have gone to Roffey and won 3-2 and Bexhill drew their local derby 0-0 at Little Common. Both now have one game remaining before they can dust off their cricket whites and have a few weeks at least where they don’t have to live in fear of a manager wondering tersely, but loudly, if they’d like to maybe consider turning that first half mess into a second half performance.

I brought along the camera. Results are here.

At the Match: Bexhill United v Horsham YMCA – Jon’s Place (wordpress.com)