Loxwood FC one of my favourite grounds for a midweek match under the floodlights hidden away behind the forest of trees in the West Sussex countryside; sounds like a perfect place for ‘The Bears’ to play but that’s never the case and this was no different.

With Broadbridge Heath Under 18s playing on the same night it meant some forced changes to the lineup for the young Bears with Deren Bidir making his club debut at left fullback and Neo Wooster having a run-out at right back.

Heath started well and took the lead on 13 minutes when a free kick was awarded wide on the left in front of the Loxwood dugout, Luke York played the ball long to the far post where it was headed back across goal to Keanin Louw who headed home from close range.

Heath added a second 4 minutes later when Nathan Pickering picked up the ball near the halfway line and ran at the heart of the Loxwood defence before playing the ball to Harry Kent on the edge of the box who in-turn slipped a pass through to Nathan Kennedy-Tamplin to hammer a left foot shot into the back of the net.

The Magpies replied 6 minutes before the break when Neo Wooster was harshly judged to have brought down an attacking Loxwood player some 35 yards from goal, a decision the defender didn’t agree with and he let his feelings known to the match referee which resulted in a 10 minute sin-bin for the Heath player. The free-kick was played deep into the Heath penalty area where it was met by Stan Williamson punching clear but the ball fell kindly for Freddie Wakeman to stab home from close range to make it 1-2 at the break.

The second half was a far more even affair with both sides having chances to add to their score but it remained 1-2 until the 91st minute when Abou Absim-Jbrill picked up the ball just inside the Heath half and ran at the Loxwood defence taking the ball wide right before playing a pass inside to allow Keanin Louw to run through on goal and the Heath striker advanced forward before poking the ball over the goalkeeper for his 10th goal of the season.

There was still time for the hosts to add a 2nd 10 minutes into time added, goodness knows where that time came from, when Loxwood were awarded a corner, as the ball came in the match referee whistled for a foul for some pushing in the penalty area and immediately pointed to the spot; Anwar Tait Boloji stepped up to convert the spot kick and bring an end to the nights proceedings.

Team: Williamson, Wooster, Bedir, York, Duneclift, Cumming, Kennedy-Tamplin, Wraight, Kent, Pickering, Louw. Subs: Anderson, Absim-Jbrill.