Bognor looking forward to success

Manager Jack Pearce goes into Saturday’s vital game at home to St Albans with the choice of four potential forwards.

With fit-again Ollie Pearce having joined Jimmy Muitt and Ibra Sekajja in fighting for a place in the front-line in the past couple of weeks, Bognor are also set to welcome Icelandic teenager Stefan Ljubicic back to the squad.

The striker picked up a three-match ban after he was sent off an hour into his debut against Truro a month ago.

A choice of forwards is a nice problem for Pearce, who has seen his side struggle for goals since the first month of the season.

It comes after another blank Saturday in front of goal left the Rocks 1-0 losers at Hampton.

Pearce said: ‘I’ve lost count of the number of games we’ve been competitive in but have lost through a failure to take chances. Hampton was another.

‘You’d not have known which side were near the top of the league and which were near the bottom.

‘But when we got into goalscoring positions we failed to capitalise.

‘They came on strong at the end and took their chance.’

Pearce said he did not yet know who’d play up front against fifth-placed St Albans – but it is thought Ljubicic is likely to feature, as long as his parent club Brighton are still happy for him to remain at the Lane.

His return is not the only piece of good news to lift the mood after the defeat at Hampton.

Skipper Sami El-Abd’s red card – shown late in the defeat at the Beveree – has been rescinded.

The Rocks looked at video evidence of the aerial challenge late in the match that saw him ordered off and decided they had a case.

The FA have withdrawn the card, so El-Abd is free to face St Albans this weekend.

It’s a relief for the club, who’d already seen their players shown four red cards in the first seven games of 2018.

– Steve Bone