Laycock lifts Bognor Regis Town out of drop zone
Cal Laycock scored twice to lift Bognor Regis Town out of the drop zone with a superb 4-1 Isthmian South Central win at Hendon.
It gave the Rocks their third victory on the spin, a run of results that has improved the mood in the camp no end after a torrid opening to the campaign.
At one point Jamie Howell’s men were one off the bottom — currently they are 17th in the league standings, albeit a point from the bottom four.
Now the Nye Camp outfit will look to maintain their winning ways when they host Moneyfields at their temporary home at Chichester City’s Oaklands Park on Wednesday.
Bognor went into the Hendon game brimming with confidence after a 2-1 triumph over Ascot United last week followed by a 5-0 romp at Loxwood in the Sussex Senior Cup midweek.
But the upbeat mood would have been tempered by the form of their mid-table hosts and the lingering memory of the final day of last season when the Rocks lost 5-1 and were subsequently relegated from the Isthmian premier division.
Laycock opened the scoring in the 35th minute and three minutes later the visitors found themselves 2-0 up thanks to a strike from Lee Seok-Jae.
Howell’s half-time team talk would no doubt have embraced congratulatory elements but with a firm reminder that the wounded hosts would pile on the pressure to get back in the game.
One way or another, the Rocks stood firm and dealt with the pressure — and then virtually sealed the win thanks to Billy Allcock’s goal making it 3-0 on 75 minutes.
Hendon had Javon Marquis dismissed on 81 minutes for a last-man foul on substitute Dan Gifford and a minute after the red card reduced the Greens to 10 men Bognor went 4-0 up when Laycock bagged his second.
Florian Envoudou Ada nabbed a consolation goal for Hendon on 85 minutes but the denial of a clean sheet couldn’t impact the Rocks’ jubilation at the final whistle.
Rocks: 1 Dan Lincoln, 2 Danny Jordan, 3 Matty Jones, 4 Ethan Robb, 5 Chad Field (C), 6 Tommy Block, 7 Billy Allcock, 8 Preston Woolston, 9 Callum Laycock, 10 Kash Kasukumya, 11 Lee Seok-Jae. Substitutes: 12 Dan Gifford - Kash Kasukumya (76'), 14 Elliot Chaffey - Tommy Block (82'), 15 Harvey Whyte - Preston Woolston (89'), 16 Toby Kingswell - Billy Allcock (83'), 17 Lennie Smith - Lee Seok-Jae (86').