Bexhill finish against manager's team of the season

Action from Bexhill United's 2-0 defeat at home to Ringmer in November's reverse fixture. Picture by Simon Newstead

The Pirates will wrap up their Macron Store Southern Combination League Division One campaign with a trip to fourth-placed Ringmer tomorrow (Saturday).

Light said: “You always want to start the season well and you want to win the last game. If you don’t win the last game, you’ve got to think about that all summer.

“Ringmer are my team of the year to be honest. As well as the top three have done, I look at where Ringmer were a couple of months into the season and I think it’s staggering where they’re going to finish.

“Hats off to the management team and players; I think they’ve had an outstanding run of form.”

Having won 2-0 at Southwick on Saturday, but lost 1-0 away to Billingshurst on Tuesday night, Bexhill will go into their final game lying seventh in the table.

They are two points behind fifth-placed Wick having played an extra match and trail sixth-placed Mile Oak on goal difference having played the same amount of games.

After going four weeks without playing during March, tomorrow’s game will be Bexhill’s seventh in 22 days since Easter Saturday, and the busy late season schedule has taken its toll both in terms of results and injuries.

Nathan Lopez was stretchered off with a swollen ankle against Southwick, Jack McLean is also out with a recurrence of his knee problem and Corey Wheeler (thigh) is rated 50-50.

Chris Rea and Wayne Giles are unavailable, but Georges Gouet and hopefully Liam Foster will return as Bexhill seek to avenge a 2-0 defeat in November’s reverse fixture at The Polegrove.

“We’re happy to be finishing on Saturday,” admitted Light. “We’ve probably got the smallest squad in the division - Southwick have got 114 players signed on and we’ve got 29 - and we’re playing players that are injured.

“Credit to the players; we’ve been competitive in every game and wherever we finish is going to be progress on last year.”

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