NEW MAN NEWMAN WINS THE POINTS

Heath did what they had to do when new signing Lee Newman marked his debut with a smartly taken finish fourteen minutes from time which gave them another vital three points, and a victory over a robust Rottingdean side who were a very pumped up and combative outfit, that were not going to allow another goal fest after Heath had scored 13 goals in their last two games.

The game was a messy scrappy encounter that was not aided as a spectacle by a very strong wind, uneven pitch and a pedantic referee. It was a contest between Heath's close passing game and the home team's more direct attempts to get their forward Ricky Mitchell past the Blue's back four. However the miserly defensive unit again coped with all that was thrown at them, making it a comfortable afternoon for the returning Chris Turner who didn't have a save to make. In the first half the closest to a goal came when Heath attacked down the right and Luis Freitas met the cross with his head but was only able to head it against the crossbar and it was cleared from danger.

Changes were made by the visitors early in the second half and Rob Cooper and Lee Newman were able to link well with skipper Ant Humphries to cause chaos down the left flank, with clever passing and good off the ball movement combining to stretch the defence and start to create more and clearer chances. A couple of crosses had been close to finding a Heath shirt, and then Rob Cooper drilled a free kick just past the post. Heath sensed and then seized the opportunity as they broke through the Rottingdean back four through Man of the Match Mark Beard and debutant Lee Newman. It was Newman who backed himself as he confidently smashed the ball across the keeper and into the net, to the jubilation and relief of the Heath team, bench and travelling supporters. Within a couple of minutes of the restart a carbon copy of the chance was created but this time Newman was thwarted by the home keeper who made a great save to push the ball out for a corner. Heath pushed for a second goal to kill the game as time ran down, but they had to be alert as Rottingdean looked to punish them for pushing forward too much. With only a couple of minutes left one such opening could have been engineered, but Dave Moores snuffed out the threat with an all encompassing tackle that he got booked for.

Shortly after that the final whistle blew and three more hard earned points were in the bank for Heath as they continue their recent good form and they stay second in the table and they are looking for more League points this Saturday 14th March when they are away against Ifield Edwards with a 1.30pm kick off.

Team

Turner, White, Moores, Howes, Humphries (65 Watts), Wright, Day, Beard, Frietas (Cooper R 45), Pitcher D (Newman 60), Cooper K

Man of the Match

Beard