New young keeper Taylor praised despite Loxwood's loss to Pagham

Mark Beard’s side hadn’t beaten Pagham in their two previous encounters this season, and this run continued as Loxwood never really got a foothold in the game.

Pagham’s first goal came in the 20th minute as a long ball up field found George Cody, who slotted past debutant Magpies keeper Tommy Taylor.

Pagham’s second came in the 58th minute thanks to George Bingham losing his marker from a throw-in and lashing the ball past Taylor.

Beard was disappointed with his side not testing the opposition, a contrast from the way his side had played in previous fixtures.

He said: “We took confidence from the couple of wins from before, but as soon as they scored, it changed everything. The goal we conceded was sloppy. We never really played with any fluency after that, and we just fizzled out of the game.”

Beard was full of praise for Taylor adding: “He’s a first year youth player, so he’s only just turned 17. We got him from Maidstone, so thanks to Jay Saunders and Tommy Parkinson at the Maidstone Academy for doing us a favour.

“He was absolutely outstanding. He’s got a good future ahead of him.”

Up next in the league for Loxwood is a home fixture this Saturday against sixth-placed Eastbourne Town, and Beard believes home advantage may help his side.

He added: “They’re a good side, and we’ve always had good battles with them.

“It’s at home and we know our pitch will be decent so we can get the ball down and play a bit. I’m looking forward to it.”

Loxwood: Taylor, Bachelor, Warren, Scally, Colbran, Batchelor (French), Swaine (Holvey), Napper, Pitcher (Frankland), Daniel, Gill