Tags go sixth, Hawks win a derby- and Hastings suffer a giantkilling

Hashtag United welcomed bottom side Bognor Regis Town to Parkside last night, and the Tags made it four wins in a row- and only one defeat in twelve- with a comfortable victory. It was the travelling Rocks who were first given something to cheer, Tommy-Lee Higgs scoring his seventeenth goal of the season on the quarter hour- but the hosts were level fifteen minutes later, Misha Djemaili taking his tally to sixteen from the spot. Just before the hour the scoresheet got a less familiar name, full back Matthew Wooldridge putting the hosts ahead once more, and then twelve minutes from time it was three-one, Luke May-Parrott the scorer. That sparked something of a goal glut, three in three minutes, as Higgs immediately got once back for the visitors only for Wooldridge to venture forward and score another. Finally that was that, four-two the final score, the Tags in sixth, the Rocks eleven points from safety. 

Such is the dominance of the top five at present that United are still seven points behind fifth place Horsham, but they certainly won’t have given up on their chances of crashing into the Play Off places. 

We had a Sussex derby at the Enclosed Ground, and Whitehawk continued to climb up the table, whilst visitors Lewes continue to slip down it. Harry Bridge was the hosts chief assassin, delighting the home fans with goals on fifty four and seventy five minutes. A minute from time Lewes got a consolation, Tolu Ladapo with it, but the Rooks have only two wins from their last seventeen league matches, a far cry from their dominance in the early stages of the campaign. 

For the Hawks, who have climbed up to fifteenth and opened up a four point gap between themselves and the danger zone, the change of fortunes since the return of Shaun Saunders as manager has been extraordinary. That’s one defeat in nine, a remarkable turnaround. 

In the Velocity Cup Quarter Final Hastings United welcomed South Central side Binfield. The Moles had been on the road in each of the previous three rounds, and defeated Badshot Lea, Dulwich Hamlet and Harrow Borough to reach this stage- and now they are through to the Semi-Final after inflicting even more misery on their hosts. United have been particularly poor at home- five defeats from their last six league matches at Pilot Field perhaps tells that story- and they ended the first half two goals behind, Richard Jones Jr on twenty four minutes and Rahzir Smith-Jones from the spot in added time giving the travelling faithful a boost. Try as they might, Hastings could find no way back, and although they got a consolation, Adam Lovatt’s goal arrived three minutes into added time, and there was little time left for another. 

Many congratulations to the Moles. 

Heading back to Sunday, Potters Bar Town welcomed Chatham Town in Pitching In Isthmian Premier. The Chats seem to have lost their way a little, and their fourth defeat in five came at the hands of Steve Cawley, who scored the only goal of the game just after the hour as the Scholars climbed to eleventh. That was Cawley’s fourteenth of the season, and it saw the Chats slip twelve points away from the top five- and only one ahead of their hosts, who have played a match fewer.