Bosham fears increase after they fail to stop the Rott

Bosham suffered their second defeat in a row, undone by a resilient Rottingdean side who seem worthy of being higher up the table than they are.

The 2-0 home loss heaped more worries on the Bosham management team as the promotion campaign threatens to hit the buffers.

Bosham were without key players, including John Phillips and Ben Blanshard, resulting in the likes of Jack Hancock and James Ash getting the call-up from the reserves and improving Josh Rehill starting up front in a makeshift strike partnership with Dan Rehill.

Rottingdean looked the more dangerous early on with Rickie Mitchell and Luke Pawson lively and the Reds back-line was taking the strain.

On the half-hour, the village people took the lead when Matt Demario finished off a cutting move that saw Kris Pover shrug off Hancock to deliver a testing ball into the box. An attempted clearance failed and it fell for Demario to put the Blues in front.

Shortly before the break things got worse for the Reds when Pover got on the scoresheet, smashing in a rebound from his own shot to double the advantage.

After a stern ticking-off, Bosham looked to re-energise in the second period but the Blues showed better strength and ability to maintain control despite not adding to their tally. Sub Michael Jones’ effort was inches over the bar and further chances fell to Demario and captain Scott Turner.

The introduction of Ash and James Bracher was a bold move but Bosham never looked like scoring.

Bosham manager Tom Evans said: “We weren’t at the races and didn’t deserve to get anything from the match. The boys have a good deal of soul searching to do before we hit the pitch next week.”

BOSHAM: Arnell, Probee, Hancock, Grantham, Rawlings, Miles, Hartley, Hounsome, D Rehill, J Rehill, Dowden. Subs: Bracher, Ash, Evans.

ALAN PRICE