Burgess Hill Town 3-2 Whitstable Town - Seager Harps on about poor defending - EXCLUSIVE

The Oystermen have the worst away form in the Ryman League Division One South as they lost their eleventh league match on their travels tonight - but remain nine points clear off the drop zone with eleven games to play.

Former Tonbridge Angels and Welling United striker Steve Harper, 25, took his tally to seventeen for the Hillians with a brace, after Neil Watts opened his account for the west Sussex club inside the opening 223 seconds of the game.

Whitstable Town were without Jake Gess after he suffered a freak injury en-route to the match.

“Jake Gess has been playing really well and would have started,” explained Seager, when speaking EXCLUSIVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk afterwards.

“We stopped at the petrol station and he hurt his groin getting out of the car. He thought it might be just a twinge at first, something you get when you sit in the car, but he couldn’t run if off, so we’ve had to make a change, which was a big blow to us.”

And Burgess Hill broke the deadlock inside the opening four minutes through Watts’ left-footed drive which found the bottom left-hand corner after the Kent side failed to deal with Danny Gainsford’s deep free-kick.

But Whitstable Town bounced back from that early set-back and Nick Bagley right-footed drive from 30-yards bounced wide and Chris May made a smart save to deny Dave Cory from scoring with an angled drive.

However, Whitstable Town levelled proceedings after 28 minutes through the in-form striker Ian Pulman.

Seager told his players to get in behind giant defender Gainsford, and that’s what they did when Cory slid the ball behind the home side’s back-line and Pulman stroked the ball past the advancing May with his right-foot.

A long clearance from Burgess Hill goalkeeper May was allowed to drop inside the Whitstable penalty area and Nick Fogden’s driven cross across the face of goal was met by a powerful towering header from the unmarked Watts at the far post, which flew just over the crossbar.

Cory required treatment after he flicked Bagley’s free-kick into May’s grateful arms just before the break, but Seager’s half-time team talk was still ringing in their ears when Harper gave the hosts the lead dead on five minutes into the second half.

Gainsford played the ball over the top of the visitors defence for Watts to latch onto and he whipped in a cross from the left for Harper to flick the ball past Fewell at the near post from six-yards.

But teams are always vulnerable after scoring and the Hillians’ lead lasted just 97 seconds as Bagley drilled a right-footed 30-yards, screaming into the bottom right-hand corner.

Pulman squandered an excellent chance for the north Kent side to grab the lead but he cracked a fierce shot past the near post after his pace beat Tom Edmonds as he latched onto Marcus Perona’s pass.

Harper, who was a threat throughout, wasted a couple of chances and Whitstable had their crossbar to thank for preventing midfielder Lloyd Cotton from scoring with a thunderous right-footed drive from 30-yards with 21 minutes remaining.

Whitstable substitute Dan Wisker, meanwhile, was agonisingly wide with a hooked half-volley before Harper wrapped up the points with seven minutes remaining with a right-footed shot that gave the diving Fewell no chance.

The Kent side had a couple of late chances to salvage a point but Tommy Martin’s header - and a shot from Cory - were both dealt with by the former Ramsgate goalkeeper.

But Seager, whose side have only picked up two wins and two draws on their travels during their first ever Ryman League campaign, wasn’t a happy man afterwards.

“Players haven’t gone out there and done what they’ve been told to do,” he fumed.

“We’ve started off slow and you’re always going to find that away from home. I thought they started quite well, which we expect really for the home team. They tried to peg us back and a bit of sloppy defending, a bit of hesitancy, and we’ve been punished for it.

“We started to get a foothold in the game and got a good equaliser by Pully (Ian Pulman), finished well, and started to get a little on top and then we started giving the ball away again.

“And in this league, we should know by now, if you give the ball away you’re going to get punished!”

Seager was upset that his side started the second half as they did the first - by conceding a goal.

“He said: “We had a good chat at half-time and we had a game plan and it went straight out of the window because people haven’t gone out there and done what they’ve been told.

“We got pegged back and in the end the game got very, very stretched, we conceded another goal, a bit of sloppiness and Nick Bagley comes up with a wonder second half goal and you think that might give us a lift.

“But in fairness I think they’re worthy of their three points.

“We put on a bit of pressure at the end but it shouldn’t take us being 3-2 down with a couple of minutes to go to get us going like that.”

Seager’s game plan was to get in behind giant defender Gainsford and to keep Harper quiet.

“We wanted to try and get them turned, we knew Pully and Dave Cory could cause them problems if we got them turned,” explained Seager.

“The big lump at the back, the number five, Gainsford, he’s very good when the ball’s in front of him but big lads like that don’t like being turned and a couple of occasions we did it we put them in all sorts of problems and one of our goals came from it.

“It’s disappointing when players don’t do what their asked to be done.

“But here we are now coming to the end of February and the lads shouldn’t be making the same mistakes as they were making in August-September time.

“It doesn’t matter what level of football you play at, if you’re going to give the ball away as much as we have been, you’ll get punished.”

And on two-goal hero Harper, Seager said: “I thought we showed him too much respect if I’m honest.

“I think we didn’t get close enough on him and the thing is he’s a proven goalscorer. The lads knew that before the game. I told them that he’s an out and out goalscorer.”

But having not picked up any points tonight, Seager’s side are still looking over their shoulder.

“Tonight really is a game we should be getting something from,” he admitted. “When you look at that, if people done the right job, if we’d played with a bit more quality and been a little bit more direct, then we would have got something here tonight.

“We just weren’t quite at the races at times, really just basic errors that have let us down again and that’s the disappointing thing.

“If you go into a game and you give everything and you do the right thing and you just get beaten by a better team, you just hold your hand up.

“It was a game you should have got something from.”

Burgess Hill Town: Chris May, David Piper, Stuart Tuck, James Martin, Danny Gainsford, Tom Edmonds, Steve Harper, Lloyd Cotton, Nick Fogden (Jamie Howell 90), Chris Greatwich, Neil Watts (Kenny Hewitt 77).
Subs: Matt Piper, Scott Marshall, Colin Hunwick.

Goals: Neil Watts 4, Steve Harper 51, 83

Booked: James Martin 19

Whitstable Town: Kevin Fewell, Gary Sayer, Danny Tipple (Tommy Martin 79), Liam Quinn (Steven Lloyd 59), Clint Gooding, Sam Denly, Tom Parker, Marcos Perona, Ian Pulman, Dave Cory, Nick Bagley (Dan Whisker 79).
Subs: Daniel Lawrence, Jake Gess.

Goals: Ian Pulman 28, Nick Bagley 52

Booked: Liam Quinn 25, Sam Denly 55

Attendance: 137
Referee: Mr Ian Gosling (Sittingbourne, Kent)
Assistants: Mr Simon Griffiths (Horsham, West Sussex) & Mr Dominic Lyons (Lewes, East Sussex)