CAFC vs Bognor Regis Town – Preview
Carshalton Athletic welcome Bognor Regis Town to Colston Avenue on Saturday in the Isthmian Premier Division.
Robins Review
The Robins had their seven-match winning streak ended at the weekend following a narrow 3-2 defeat to league leaders Billericay Town despite a spirited display. To make matters worse, Hashtag United’s 2-1 victory over Chichester City meant the Essex-based side moved into sixth in the Isthmian Premier while the Reds fell to seventh. There will be hopes that Carshalton can bounce back against Bognor Regis Town on Saturday.
Bognor Regis Town
Bognor Regis Town sealed a huge 1-0 victory over rock-bottom Bowers and Pitsea on Saturday thanks to a Tommy-Lee Higgs penalty. Bognor languish second from bottom on 24 points after 32 matches in the Isthmian Premier Division. The Rocks may be just one win behind catching Hastings United; however, the U’s boast three games in hand. The West Sussex-based side won their curtain raiser 3-2 over Cheshunt but fell to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Lewes the following week. Consecutive 2-2 draws ensued against Hastings and Hendon respectively, before a Jimmy Wild brace for Chichester City inflicted a 2-1 defeat. To conclude August, Tommy Lee Higgs hat trick saw the club progress in the FA Cup First Qualifying Round over Aylesbury Vale Dynamos. There were a couple of huge results for the Rocks in September after dispatching Wingate & Finchley 2-1 and Cray Wanderers 3-1. That said, Bognor would then suffer successive 4-0 drumming’s by Margate and Billericay Town, the former in the FA Cup Second Qualifying Round. It was the perfect start to October when the club ran out 6-1 winners over Steyning Town Community in the Sussex Cup, yet they were knocked out the FA Trophy at the first time of asking 2-1 by Sittingbourne.
Ensuring not to dwell on a slender 1-0 loss to league highflyers Dover Athletic, the defeat to Canvey Island was significantly more disappointing. A two-week break followed after Freddie Parker’s hattrick made sure Cray Valley edged the Rocks 3-2. Bognor returned to action at the start of November against Cheshunt and were beaten 4-0, a five-match losing streak in the league commenced and ended with a 1-0 victory over rock-bottom side Bowers & Pitsea. The club would remain winless across the next 10 matches except for two 1-1 draws with the Robins and Potters Bar Town. The Rocks were hammered 23-6 on aggregate, including 4-1 defeats to Lewes and Folkestone Invicta and a 7-1 smashing by Chatham Town.
The unwanted winless run was put to bed early in the new year following a seven-goal thriller with Dulwich Hamlet which finished 4-3 thanks to a Higgs brace. The defeats kept coming as Cray Valley and Hastings United overcame them relatively easily; that said, it took a 90th-minute Luke Baptiste penalty to seal Dover a hard-fought 2-1 win against a spirited Rocks side. In recent weeks, they have steadied the ship with back-to-back draws versus Cray Wanderers and Hashtag United. And, despite losing 3-0 to Billericay, the club beat Canvey Island emphatically 4-0 to lift themselves off rock bottom and garner some much-needed momentum heading into the business end of the 2024-25 campaign. The Rocks, a consolidated Premier Division club over the last few years, achieved comfortable mid-table finishes of 9th, 14th, and 10th in 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24, respectively. However, if they do not start to turn things around, relegation seems highly likely.
Likely line-ups
Carshalton Athletic
Foley, Sankoh, Atewologun, Read, Paul-Lavaly, Saraiva (c), Frimpong, Saunders-Henry, Ifeanyi, Smith, Ghannam
Bognor Regis Town
Hall, Whyte, Jarvis, Davies (c), Rew, Field, Smith, Tuck, Higgs, Burgess, Mather
Team news
Carshalton Athletic
Peter Adeniyi made four changes to his side following their narrow 1-0 victory over Potters Bar Town last Friday. Paris Hamilton Downes, making his first start since recovering from injury, replaced Azez Sankoh at full-back. In midfield, Michael Dada came in for the unavailable Mason Saunders-Henry. The front three saw a shake-up, with Bryan Ifeanyi returning to the lineup, and Sean Lock making his first start in a red shirt. Nabeel Ghannam and Josh Shonibare were named among the substitutes.
Bognor Regis Town
Young midfielder Freddie Chester, 18, joined the club last week. Formerly of Horndean, Worthing and Steyning Town, Chester is a local lad and came through the Rocks youth system. Bailey Smith, meanwhile, is another new addition to the West Sussex-based side. He is a former Brighton academy winger who signed on a dual registration from Worthing.
Pre-match analysis
Bognor Regis Town are 17th in the form guide across the last six matches with five points following two draws and a win. While the club have only managed to find the net 39 times in the 2024-25 campaign, it is not their goalscoring but rather their defending that is a major cause for concern. The Rocks have conceded a staggering 76 goals, the most of any team in the Isthmian Premier.
Key Player
Rocks forward Tommy-Lee Higgs has been a bright spark in what has been a difficult campaign for the club. Higgs tops the goalscoring tally in West Sussex with 19 goals but admittedly has not scored in February despite a strong January where he netted five times.
The Gaffer(s)
In December, the club announced the appointments of Jamie Howell and Michael Birmingham as joint managers of the club. Birmingham exchanged mid-table South Central Division side Horndean for the Rocks. The managerial duo are under no illusions that there can be no slip-ups in the business end of the campaign. Speaking to the club media, Birmingham said: “Nothing is impossible until it is impossible! We are taking one game at a time it’s an old cliché but the win over Canvey was the biggest game in the club’s history — and now we will move on to the Bowers game. We are not getting ourselves at it, looking at two, three and four games away. We are concentrating on 90 minutes at a time as boring as it sounds!” Howell said he expects the visitors to be dangerous given the recent mauling they endured. He added: “We will look at the analysis and decide the best team to put out to try to get us three points. It’ll be a tough game because they had a difficult result last time and they will be looking very keenly to try to bounce back. If we can play like we did at Canvey and show the same attitude we will give ourselves a great chance.”
Match Details
Date: Saturday, March 1, 2025
Venue: Colston Avenue
Kick-off: 03:00 pm
Admission: £11, £8, £5 (online prices) on the gate is a pound dearer.
Tickets: Buy online tickets here
To access Saturday’s Matchday Guide, please click here
