Home team Pagham secured all three points with a single goal win over Bexhill Utd at Nyetimber Lane on Saturday afternoon.

Both sides had come into the fixture with good victories the previous weekend – the Pirates turning their game around with a last minute 2-1 win over Horsham YM whilst Pagham a stunning 4-2 win over the water at Guernsey.

Those wins for both had them well established in the chasing pack in the Southern Combination Premier Division behind runaway leaders Haywards Heath Town.

Bexhill had to make a couple of enforced changes to their starting line up with Max Hollobone suspended and the in-form Jaan Stanley picking up a knock in midweek training.

Weather conditions and the pitch were both excellent but despite high pre-match expectations the first half was a tough and pretty uninspiring affair with both sides pretty much cancelling each other out and neither setting the world alight.

On the half hour Stef Akras made an excellent point blank save to keep the scores level and that’s how it stayed as the sides went for the half time break. The opening exchanges in the second half were a bit livelier but it wasn’t until the 67th minute when the opening and decisive goal of the game for Pagham arrived, scored by Harry Giles after a lapse in concentration in the Pirates defence opened the door.

it sparked Bexhill into the most creative period of the game, with fresh legs thrown on to jazz things up and they pushed on in search of an equaliser but it wasn’t until stoppage time that they found the net only to have it chalked off for offside in the build up, Will Saunders finished well but the flag was up well before then.

It felt from quite early on in the match that one goal might be enough to win it and so it proved to be with the home side bagging all three points and maintaining their impressive early season run of form.

Courtesy of Geoff Morris.