Rocks look to bounce back at Burgess Hill

The Essex strugglers surprised everyone with a 2-1 win over table-toppers the Rocks at Nyewood Lane on Saturday, scoring an injury-time winner after James Fraser looked like he’d headed Bognor to a point.

Boss Jamie Howell admitted it was a disappointing result but said he’d not be making wholesale changes.

“We always felt we could have a blip and we need to concentrate on how we can get back to winning games,” he said.

“That might come tonight, or it might come at Harrow or Hendon. But we must remember we’re in a good position and we don’t need to panic.”

Howell indicated there might be one or two changes to the line-up at Burgess Hill, but utility man Gary Charman is out with a rib injury picked up in the Grays game.

Striker Jimmy Wild is close to a return after a month out with a knee injury but is unlikely to feature tonight, while the Rocks have added young midfielder Tommy Block to the ranks, but Howell said he would continue to turn out for Chichester City so he was getting games.

Ollie Pearce is among players who were on the bench for the Grays clash and are pushing for a start tonight.

Bognor lead the Ryman premier table by a point and cannot be knocked off tonight as their two closest rivals, Needham and Havant, are not playing. But they’ll be keeping an eye on fourth-place Leiston, who are only five points behinfd the Rocks with two games in hand and host Folkestone tonight.

Burgess Hill go into the game in 18th spot after a superb win at Enfield on Saturday.

STEVE BONE