Sixteen-year-old debutant impresses for Bognor Regis Town – but Diet Coke is his MoM prize

Bognor fought bravely but saw all their hard work cruelly undone when the hosts grabbed the only goal of the game in a battling performance from Blake's men in this Isthmian premier division game on Tuesday.

Dover v Rocks in pictures.

George Nikaj saw his effort go in after visiting keeper Ryan Hall failed to collect on 77 minutes and the Rocks couldn't find the leveller in what was a spirited display at the Megger Community Stadium.

Blake handed a league debut to Kingswell and Preston Woolston, 18, came on as a second half substitute to make his first appearance for the Rocks after signing on trial after leaving Havant & Waterlooville. Tommy Block saw second half action after recovering from an injury that has seen him miss more than two months of football.

The injury-ravaged Nye Camp outfit went into the game against their third-place hosts desperate to find some form after being beaten by Sittingbourne in the FA trophy on Saturday. And they managed to deliver a gutsy 90 minutes that on another day would have given them at least a draw in Kent.

As it stands, the defeat leaves them in 18th position in the league standings with a game against Canvey Island, who sit in 19th position, at Nyewood Lane on Saturday.

Speaking to Rocks Radio after the encounter, Blake said: "People may ask the question. 'Why are you playing a 16-year-old kid?' Well, the answer is that he is good enough. For Toby to come in at 16 and make his debut and look like he has played 100 games for the club was testament to him and his family and how he has been developed through the system.

"It was a really solid performance against a really good outfit and come the end of the season they will be in the mix. I thought we dominated the game in the first half and we could have even been one or two up at the break, and if we had have taken those chance it would have given us something to hold on to.

"In the second half they came out fired up and we managed to weather the storm -- but they came into it when we started giving sloppy possession away, which we didn't do in the first half when we were braver on the ball.

"I've been critical of players at certain times this season but after this game I felt really proud. We have come a long way on a Tuesday night and we have lost but I think when we strip it all back there were a lot of positives in the game.

"I have said to our boys, ‘if we play like that from now until the end of the season we won't have any issues at all’. If we keep playing like that we will win more games than we lose."

Bognor: 1 Ryan Hall, 2 Calvin Davies (C), 3 Rocco Gamblin (Preston Woolston 62′), 4 Toby Kingswell, 5 Spencer Spurway, 6 Tyler Edmondson, Haydon Vaughan (Callum Barlow 79′), Matt Burgess, 9 Dan Gifford, 10 Tommy-Lee Higgs (Tommy Block 67′), 11 Jasper Mather Subs: 12 Callum Barlow, 14 Harry Clout,15 Preston Woolston, 16 Mason Vince, 17 Tommy Block.