Bexhill pick themselves up for cup semi-final

Bexhill United midfielder Gordon Cuddington holds off Little Common defender Lewis Parsons at The Polegrove on Easter Monday. Picture by Simon Newstead

The Pirates will take on Oakwood for a place in the Macron Store Southern Combination League Division One Challenge Cup final. Kick-off at Newhaven FC’s Trafalgar Ground is 7.30pm.

The game comes just two days after Bexhill were beaten 2-0 by neighbours Little Common in their final home league fixture of the season.

Speaking after Monday’s match, Light said: “We won’t be down for long. We even broke into applause in there (the changing room after the game).

“That’s probably the positive of having three games in five days - you can’t mope, you’ve got to pick yourself up and think about the next game. I think we’ll be okay.”

Both clubs will be playing for the third time in five days having also been in action on Saturday and Monday.

“We’ll just have to give it everything we’ve got and see how we get on,” continued Light. “We’ll try to freshen it up as best we can, but we want to keep it as strong as possible.”

Bexhill will add Luke Woodley to the squad for a match which was postponed at the first time of asking last Wednesday, but Zack McEniry is cup-tied.

The Pirates will go into the match as favourites on paper since they lie fifth in the league table - 12 places and 33 points above their opponents.

Bexhill, who have beaten Hailsham Town, Southwick and AFC Varndeanians to reach the last four, won both league meetings between the clubs, including a remarkable 7-0 victory in Crawley on the opening day of the league season.

The Polegrove-based club will be aiming to reach the final of the divisional competition for the second time in five years. They made it to the 2014 final courtesy of a 1-0 semi-final victory against Oakwood.

The winner of tonight’s game will face Langney Wanderers or Little Common - who will meet in the other semi-final next Wednesday - in the final on a date and at a venue to be announced.

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