Bognor 'excellent' in derby victory at Horsham

Tommy Leigh put the Rocks 1-0 up midway through the first half.

Bognor doubled their advantage in the second half. A free-kick rattled the bar but was bundled in by Harvey Whyte.

Victory for Bognor sees them in eighth place in the Premier Division.

The Rocks are now nine points off the play-off places with two games in hand over fifth-placed Carshalton Athletic.

Speaking after the game, Blake expressed his delight with his side’s performance.

He said: “It was a must-win game for us and the lads produced a great performance.

“It was arguably one of our better performances of the season when we needed it most.

“If it doesn’t kick us on for the rest of the season, then nothing will after that result.

“We’ve got to take all the positives from the game into Saturday.

“I will express to the players that we’ve got nine cup finals left this season.”

Blake was delighted with his team’s attitude as they cruised to all three points.

But he admitted there is still improvements to be made.

Blake added: “I thought we were excellent.

“I thought the team spirit, the togetherness was huge for us.

“We needed that because it was a Sussex derby.

“I still think we can get better in the final third with our execution of the final ball.

“However, the way we defended as a team was very positive for us going forward.”

The win for Bognor leaves them in a good position to pursue a play-off place.

And it is a challenge Blake feels his side is prepared for.

He said: “I feel we have a good enough squad, but we don’t want any injuries obviously.

“We’ve got a well-equipped team to do ourselves justice and we’ll see at the end of April if that’s enough.”

Bognor’s Jake Flannigan picked up an injury on Tuesday, but Blake hopes to have him available for selection when his side welcome 18th-placed Corinthian-Casuals to Nyewood Lane this Saturday.

He added: “Jake Flannigan was feeling his hamstring against Horsham, so we had to bring him off at half-time.

“When he gets assessed we’ll know more, so fingers crossed it’s not serious and he can be available for selection on Saturday.”