Broadbridge Heath 1, Haywards Heath Town 0: Saunders' men lose 100 per cent record

Manager Shaun Saunders was without Kane Louis (away) and Callum Saunders (suspended) Nic Taylor continued in goal with a back line of Bailie Rogers, Luc Doherty, Nathan Cooper and Josh Spinks. In Midfield was Jamie Weston, Joel Daly, Karly Akehurst and Naim Rouane.

Up front Ryan Warwick partnered Wade Eason. On the bench was Max Miller, Alfie Rogers, George Hayward, Tom Graves and Mickandress Mackangou.

The Home side were looking to bounce back from their first defeat of the season on Tuesday night and started the game well putting Heath under pressure all over the pitch and an early chance that was headed straight at Nic Taylor in the Heath goal. Heath had to deal with several dangerous balls into the area which lead to conceding several early corners that came to nothing.

Heath looked comfortable in possession but were struggling to make much ground as BBH kept two very tight lines of defence. Joel Daly playing in a more advanced position had a good strike well blocked.

Heath’s pressure was turning into corners but some brilliant deliveries in from Jamie Weston never seemed to find a Heath head.

Broadbridge Heath were still hitting Heath well on the counter attack and they were finding the target although simple enough for Nic Taylor in goal.

The game continued from end to end with more corners for Heath and the home striker blazing over.

On 38 minutes the home side opened the scoring, a long throw that had been used all game was only half cleared by the Heath defence, the ball back in found its way through to Tiago Andrade and he lobbed the ball over Nic Taylor into the far corner to the delight of the home supporters.

Heath tried to respond but Ryan Warwick couldn’t get his strike on target.

Heath opened the second half with a renewed urgency to get forward, and if there was any sign it wasn’t going to be their day this came on 46 minutes as Josh Spinks rose highest eight yards out and powered his header at the BBH goal only for the keeper to pull off a fine diving save for yet another heath corner.

Heath’s search for an equaliser lead to a big penalty appeal waved away after what looked like a handball in the area, questions asked after earned Bailie Rogers his name in the referees note book alongside the three Broadbridge Heath players already there.

On 53 minutes Ryan Warwick’s turn and shot failed to work the keeper as Heath got more frustrated in search of the equaliser.

Wade Eason was next to grace the referee’s note book with a late challenge, he was then replaced by Mickandress Mackangou for his Heath debut.

The corner count for Heath continued to rise by again and again any danger was swiftly cleared by the home side.

Max Miller replaced Luc Doherty as Heath looked for that important goal. But there seemed no way through as Heath pushed more men forwards it left openings at the back for the home side to exploit.

Heath’s final throw of the dice saw Tom Graves replace Bailie Rogers, as the clock ticked into injury time Max Miller low strike across goal went just wide of the target, while the home side had chances to wrap up the game only for late ditch tackles and wide shooting the game remained at just 1-0.

Afterwards manager Shaun Saunders said: “We were very poor first half today and never got going, I thought that after the break we applied ourselves better but we were not anywhere near the level we set ourselves and will look to bounce straight back with a much improved performance on Tuesday night at Hanbury.”

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1 Make this website your homepage

2 Like our Facebook page at facebook.com/pages/Sport-Sussex

3 Follow us on Twitter @SportSussex

4 Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!