Heath manager Chris Simmons made four changes to his starting line-up for the trip to Beckenham Town but was missing a central defender with Ben Lowery, Lewis Hyde and Sean Terry all unavailable for the trip so Sal Marino dropped into the backline to play alongside skipper Brad Peters.

The hosts started off kicking down the slope away from the clubhouse and had the better of the early chances; with 5 minutes on the clock their new loan signing from Bromley FC, Tade Ibrahim hit a right foot shot from 20 yards straight at Heath goalkeeper Alfie Hadfield who punched clear and minutes later Mudiaga Wanogho got on the end of a corner from the left but headed wide of the post when well positioned.

At the other end “The Bears” first shot on target saw Luke Bejashvili strike a right foot shot from distance that was deflected narrowly wide of the post and from the resulting corner Bejashvili played the ball in towards the near post to Sal Marino who glanced a header through a crowded area into the net for his second league goal of the season.

The hosts were level within 3 minutes when a short throw-in on the right found its way to Ibrahim who fired a low cross into the Heath penalty area where it was turned in from close range by George Porter for the striker’s sixth goal in six matches.

Heath came close to regaining the lead minutes before half-time when Elliott Romain picked up the ball in a central position some 30 yards from goal, played it wide right to Zac Young who slipped a pass in to Louis Evans who blasted a first time right foot shot that crashed against the underside of the crossbar and out and it remained 1-1 at the break.

Heath took the lead on 65 minutes when a foul on Jake Lawrence 35 yards from goal saw Charlie Gibson step up and play a left foot cross into the Beckenham penalty area where it was met by Brad Peters powering a header wide of Beckenham goalkeeper Vinith Murugamoorthy for, surprisingly, his first goal of the season.

Heath secured the points with a third goal 12 minutes before the end when a Gibson in-swinging corner from the right was played in to the near post, Beck’s goalkeeper punched the ball clear but only as far as Gibson, 20 yards from goal, who struck a left foot shot that was stopped on the goal-line by Murugamoorthy but the ball came off the keeper straight to Marino to fire home from 8 yards.

That win see “The Bears” move up to 7th place and with seven wins from their last nine matches they find themselves in a very comfortable league position.

Next up for The Bears is a Sussex Transport Senior Cup match on Tuesday 18th November when Hastings United come to The BodyMould Community Stadium, Kick Off 7.45

Team: Hadfield, Staight, Gibson, Connell, Peters, Marino, Bejashvili (Dowdell 60), Romain (Doughty 52), Lawrence (Wooster 74), Evans (Cotton 87), Young (Abudiore 92).