Rocks go second - and Ryman title race goes to last day

Jason Prior, Connor Tighe and Snorre Nilsen were on target on a night when the Rocks were not at their best but still got the job done - while perhaps not quite gaining the goal difference they might have liked.

The Rocks will host Hendon on Saturday needing to win and score a few goals - and hope Hampton slip up at home to Enfield.

It’s a long shot but at least Bognor know if it is the play-offs that await them they will be at home in the semi-finals and, if they finish second, they would also be at home in the final should they reach it.

Dan Beck earned an early lecture from ref Dele Sotimirin for a challenge on Marcus Milner.

Brentwood started with quite a lively approach and had Bognor on the back foot early on, Mitch Hahn rifling a powerful shot over the bar.

Alfie Rutherford was first to try his luck for the Rocks but his 30-yard left-footed effort was always drifting high and wide.

Bognor followed that with a cross from Harvey Whyte that Stuart Green met on the volley and sent only narrowly wide.

An Alex Parsons cross was just tipped away from Rutherford’s head by keeper Ollie Bowles.

It didn’t take the Rocks long to go ahead and it was top scorer Prior with his 43rd goal of the season, in his 61st game of the campaign, who broke the deadlock. A long ball from the back set him away and he outmuscled a defender, controlled it, took another touch to wrongfoot the keeper then fired low into the net, with just 12 minutes gone.

Immediately Alex Teniola should have levelled when a cross from the right found him unmarked near the penalty spot. Grant Smith was fixed to the line but thankfully for the Rocks, the shot went the wrong side of the post.

Prior was close to his and Bognor’s second with a header from a floated Beck free-kick but Bowles leapt athletically to palm it over.

Brentwood wanted a penalty when Teniola went to ground during a panicky scramble in the Rocks box. Then Smith was called upon to push away a Shad Ngandu shot as the Essex visitors continued to threaten an equaliser.

Rutherford was close with a lob that took a deflection and beat the keeper but went just over.

Bognor were forced into a change as Alex Parsons came off for Tighe. He didn’t look to be badly hurt so the home fans will have been hoping it was just a precaution.

Rutherford chased an almost lost cause down the left and swung in an excellent cross that fell to Green, but he blazed over. Then Tighe crossed for Tuck but he hit it first-time and it was another one that was too high.

Prior should have been given a penalty for a push as a free-kick came into the area but the challenge went unpunished as Sami El-Abd headed the corner wide.

Rutherford looked the most likely to get a second for Bognor and sent a fierce drive just wide from a tight angle outside the box.

Prior had the final first-half effort, turning 20 yards out and shooting - but it was comfortable for Bowles.

HT 1-0

Bognor began the second half by putting Brentwood under heavy pressure and it paid off. One close-range shot was blocked but when the ball ran loose, Tighe was well-placed to bend a left-footed shot into the bottom corner.

Brentwood looked rattled for a while but Bognor couldn’t force in a quick third despite a couple of close calls.

Brentwood survived another scare when Prior connected with Whyte’s cut-back but it was cleared. Then Whyte headed a long ball towards Priorr in the six-yard box but it didn’t reach him.

Nilsen replaced Green in the Rocks’ second change on 55 minutes.