Prior powers Rocks to overdue win at Lewes

Gary Charman played in both the Rocks' weekend wins / Picture by Tim Hale

Lewes had lost 5-1 to Farnborough on Saturday while the Rocks were beating Billericay and the same form continued for both sides in the Dripping Pan derby.

Bognor looked bright from the start and Ollie Pearce had Lewes on the back foot with early free-kicks and corners.

James Crane whipped a ball in from the left but Jason Prior couldn’t get good contact.

It was 1-0 on 11 minutes. Great work from Parsons to beat Jay Lovett to the ball saw him pass to Prior, who tucked the ball low and beyond keeper Will Godmon.

Neat work down the right by Prior saw him find Stuart Green and his pass to Parsons led to the winger firing low at goal but it was well stopped by the goalkeeper.

Grant Smith was commanding his box well and Bognor’s defence were largely untroubled by any Lewes attacks.

Harvey Whyte did well down the right and crossed into the heart of the box. Prior headed goalwards but Godmon did well to save it low.

But Bognor went further ahead on 22 minutes when Parsons found Prior with a wonderful cross and the striker powered a header into the net.

A cross from Dan Beck almost picked out Parsons as Bognor carried on bossing the game, before Lewes had calls for a handball in the Rocks box unanswered.

Parsons and Prior had further half-chances but it remained 2-0 at the break.

A neat flick from Prior set up Parsons straight from the restart but his attempt to find Pearce was thwarted.

On 49 minutes Doug Tuck – still getting back to full fitness – was replaced by Alfie Rutherford.

Williams rattled the Bognor post with a close-range effort as Bognor failed to deal with a cross from the left by Nathan Crabb but he was flagged offside.

Prior had chances to complete his season’s second hat-tric, one effort ricocheting off the bar.

Lewes did their best to get back into it but their pressure blew itself out somewhat after Muggeridge went to ground in the box but was denied a penalty.

Beck was replaced by Gary Charman on 66 minutes and was booked within minutes of coming on as he slid in late on Logan.

Chad Field came on for Sami El-Abd on 71 minutes.

For Lewes, Brown tried his luck from long distance but shot straight at Smith.

When Pearce was tripped just outside the box, Prior’s free-kick was blocked and on the rebound the striker blasted over the bar.

Bognor were in control in front of a crowd of 568 though Lewes had their chances and Levy was causing problems for the defence.

ROCKS: Smith, Whyte, Crane, Tuck (Rutherford 49), El-Abd (Field 71), Robson, Green, Beck (Charman 66), Prior, Pearce, Parsons. Unused subs: Wollers, Nilsen.

LIAM GOODLEY

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1 Make this website your homepage

2 Like our Facebook page at facebook.com/pages/Sport-Sussex

3 Follow us on Twitter @SportSussex

4 Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!