Promotion hopes slowly die as The Lingers fail to win

A settled, sunny afternoon on the south coast of England, saw Lingfield travel down to Bexhill united. Lingfield struggled with players due to injuries and suspensions. And this meant that Jamie Bakhit and Mark Hillan stepped up from the reserves earning starting 11 places. The game started shaky, and no clear possession from either side.

Lingfield came close early on as Brett Caiger went through on goal and forced a good save, the oncoming TJ Stead lobbed the ball into the far corner which was cleared on the line. With much controversy that the ball was over, the linesman said no goal and the game continued.

Lingfield failed to keep the ball to feet proved costly as a ball given away meant that Bexhill could counter. A long ball up saw the no 10 latch onto the second and finished calmly from outside the box.
Soon after, Lingfield found some confidence and started to put passes together. Jamie Bakhit found himself with some room in the box and with the second attempt was able to pass calmly into the back of the night. 26 minutes gone 1-1.
However, the goal did not boost anymore confidence which showed when Bexhill kept attacking. A ball from the centre of the pitch played to the right winger with acres of space, was able to shoot. Keeper Olly Moore was unable to keep it and the ball fell towards the oncoming attacker who was able to tap it in.

Tackles went flying in, and the game turned aggressive. Bexhill was lucky not to have a man sent off when a high studs up challenge was made. Instead, the Reg played on which allowed more tackles to fly in till he called a foul. This led to a huddle of Bexhill players pushing and trying to intimidate, and resulted in 2 yellow cards. One for Lingfield, the other Bexhill.

Half Time 2-1 Bexhill.

The second half started with no real threat from both teams. Neither team could grab a foothold of the game. Lingfield had more of the ball, but failed to create chances, whereas, Bexhill was making chances every time they moved forward. As Lingfield moved forward trying to get back into the game, saw Bexhill break away and score 2 goals within 5 minutes.

A high late challenge in front of the dugout on Brett Caiger saw a riot to occur. Bexhill’s manager gauging out Brett’s eye and Bexhill pushing and starting the trouble. The Ref did nothing about this situation and Lingfield was given a free kick.
A one-two between Macca and Tommo led to Tommo sending a through ball to Brett Caiger who was one-on-one with the keeper and finished neatly in the corner. However, this did not lead to a comeback like the reverse picture and instead Lingfield felt disappointed to lose 4-2. Promotion now feels like a hard challenge as we lose pace with the top 4 teams.

By Marc McEvilly