Bognor youngsters bow out of FA Cup at Leatherhead

Bognor reached the second qualifying round tie in Surrey with a 3-1 over Saltdean but from the off it was evident that the home side would provide tougher opposition. And so it was that they controlled large portions of possession and in due course hit four goals to progress to an away tie at Farnham later this month.

The visitors held out until 20 minutes had passed before conceding the first goal and the Tanners took heart from the strike and went in at the break 3-0 to the good at a rain-lashed Fetcham Grove.

It would have been four had keeper Jack Wyatt not pulled off a wonderful finger-tip save from a long-range effort as the half ended.

After the break, again, Rocks showed huge resilience to thwart a powerful home side time and time again and it wasn't until Wyatt made an uncharacteristic mistake that Leatherhead got their fourth goal with 15 minutes remaining.

Head coach Jamie Howell and manager Julian Barnes, along with coaches Chris Bullen and Dave Jordan, will have been impressed with the courage and bravery on the ball shown by their charges.

The visitors' man of the match was undoubtedly the impressive Danny Howick, who showed great leadership and no lack of quality in an excellent performance.

Watching first team manager Jack Pearce said the players did the club proud against physically stronger opponents and that there were many positives to take from the game.

He added: "The lads represented the club very well overall and that is a credit to them in a 4-0 defeat. It would be easy to cower and suffer a bigger loss but they showed great character to continue to try to play their football and we are proud of their efforts."

Bognor: Wyatt, Barnes, Hartt, Briffa, Bullen, Howick, Slater, Granger, Smith, Holland, Fatuda dos Santos. Subs: Hewett, Bayley, Hubble, Herring, Galga.