Bexhill United suffered a 1-0 SCFL premier defeat to Roffey after going down to a super strike.
After two fine wins on the bounce, Bexhill went into the game with an unchanged side and full of confidence ahead of the historic trip to Guernsey next weekend.
With a 200-plus crowd in at the Polegrove on a dry, early spring day, everything was set fair for a good afternoon of football in front of the Pirates faithful.
Bexhill certainly started on the front foot against a Roffey side who have also had a bit of a mixed bag of a season, and who started the day just below the hosts in the middle rankings of the Southern Combination League.
For the first 45 minutes, Bexhill had the better of the play with plenty of action around the Boars’ goalmouth. The visitors’ keeper Watson-Price pulled off a number of good saves, including one crucial effort when he was one-on-one with Jack Shonk.
But it was far from one way traffic and Finn Holter in the Bexhill goal needed his wits about him to claw away a Roffey effort around the 20-minute mark.
As the first half entered added-on time it looked nailed on that the teams would head in for the break with the match scoreless but Ash Mutongerwa had different ideas.
Picking the ball up on the right just outside the Bexhill box, there didn’t appear to be any danger, but he clipped the sweetest strike past the outstretched fingers of Holter into the top corner.
It truly was the kind of moment of individual brilliance that turns games on their head and so it was to prove.
Bexhill have established a reputation as second-half experts this season but, although they came out with every intention of turning another half-time deficit around, they found themselves running into brick walls.
Roffey had set up to defend their lead and that’s exactly what they did and very effectively.
In the final minutes, Bexhill produced a couple of last-gasp attacks that might have dug them out a point but it wasn’t to be. The home side were left to rue the earlier missed chances.
Now the Pirates regroup for the early start for the flight to Guernsey on Saturday where a travelling army of around 50 fans is expected to make the journey and cheer the side on for in an historic overseas fixture for the club.
