Bexhill United fell to 2-1 defeat in a tough battle with second-placed Steyning at the Polegrove on Saturday afternoon.
Pirates boss Jay Skinner-Swain shuffled the pack again. With skipper Richie Welch unavailable, Dale Penn was drafted in to central defence alongside Dan Rogers while Harvey Mapstone slotted in at left-back.
The whole defensive unit was in for a busy afternoon as Steyning looked to extend a winning streak of a dozen on the bounce.
The crowd had hardly settled into their seats when less than two minutes in Joe Benn found himself one on one with Stef Akras but the Bexhill keeper blocked his shot from point-blank range.
It was a warm up for repeated raids on the Pirates.
But it wasn’t all one-way traffic and, in increasingly difficult weather conditions as the rain and wind swirled around the Polegrove, Bexhill managed to get some moves together. On the half-hour, a trademark chipped effort from Jack Shonk narrowly missed the target.
Just before the break Steyning carved out another couple of very good chances but Bexhill stood firm and the teams went in 0-0 at half-time.
The weather had really closed in by the time the teams emerged again with horizontal squalls driving in from the west, illuminated by the glare of the lights. Both sides got their heads down and got on with it and it was a credit to them that they managed to play some decent football.
On 65 minutes an attempted Steyning back header fell short and presented Bexhill’s Ryan Moir with a clear chance that he just failed to untangle from under his feet and get away. It was a pivotal moment in the game.
It seemed for fire Steyning up and they came strong now and a few minutes later a deep ball in from the left proved tricky to deal with in the conditions and the impressive Evan Hoarty banged home a very good finish.
On 80 minutes the lead was doubled when in-form Benn got his shot away after a nice bit of approach play. It might have been the cue for Bexhill to fold but it was far from it. The Pirates dug in and gave it a proper go in the remaining minutes.
On 87 minutes a chance was opened up but was blasted over and, with time running out, a couple of minutes into extras, Nathan Crabb managed to grab one back after an epic scramble in the Steyning box.
The visitors weren’t happy as the officials waved their protests away but for Bexhill it was too little, too late and the points went back down the coast and cemented Steyning’s position behind Haywards Heath at the top.
