Cambridge City continuted their outstanding start to the season with a hard earned victory over an impressive Bognor Regis team at Nyewood Lane thanks to their very own SAS, Sadler and Stevenson

Gary Roberts kept faith with eleven that started the previous game against Redbridge, Robbie Simpson keeping his place ahead of Jon Stevenson, who was on the bench.

Dave Sadler (behind no4) heads home City's first after two minutes

Drizzly rain gave the excellent playing surface an added zip, and it was City who were quickly into their stride with an opening goal inside the first two minutes. City won a free-kick out on the left, Richard Scott pumped the ball to the back post and, as the Bognor defence were caught flatfooted, Dave Sadler rose to power his header into the net, before being mobbed by jubilant City fans.

Although startled by this early reverse, the home side didn’t appear to panic at all and set about the job of restoring parity with some intricate and highly impressive football. Patient build-up from the back was the order of the day as Bognor dominated possession and City had to defend in depth to protect their early advantage.

The woodwork was to come to City’s rescue on more than one occasion. Moments after falling behind, Bognor won themselves a corner. After causing some degree of panic in the City penalty area, Kevin Murphy bounced the loose ball on top of Alan Calton’s crossbar and behind to safety. Daniel Beck, on loan from Brighton, was next to test the woodwork. He ghosted past Craig Pope before unleashing a piledriver which beat Calton all ends up, but cannoned down off the underside off the bar before being scrambled away.

Dave Sadler leaps to control a pass

City’s attacks, by contrast, were sporadic but nevertheless a constant threat. Against the run of play, referee Mr Biddulph pointed to the spot after a foul on Robbie Simpson. Amidst much fury on the terraces and surrounded by protesting Bognor defenders, the referee was ushered to his assistant who had raised his flag just prior to Simpson falling in the box. As a result of this consultation, and quite correctly, the penalty decision was overturned in favour of a free-kick to the home side.

Simpson then wasted a decent shooting chance before glancing a header from Dale Binns’ cross, marginally wide of the target.

Simpson was providing many of City’s better moments and did have the ball in the net after 25 minutes. A calamatous bungle by the home defence allowed the teenage striker to dribble the ball round the keeper before tucking it nicely into the net. To the dismay of Simpson, as well as team-mates and fans alike, the linesman had decided the whole ball had gone out of play and the goal was chalked off.

Things got worse for the visitors as Bognor were handed a 41st minute penalty. Matt Langston was pummelled to the floor in the City penalty area and astonishingly, the referee pointed to the spot. There were barely any appeal from home players or fans, but the referee was adamant and Luke Nightingale stepped up to blast the spot kick into the centre of the net, sending Calton the wrong way.

Jon Stevenson hurdles Will Packham after slotting home City's winner

With minutes of the first-half remaining, Kevin Murphy rattled the City woodwork for a third time, swerving a near-perfectly flighted free-kick onto the outside of Calton’s right post.

City changed their tactics slightly in the second half as the rain eased, pushing further upfield and effectively stifling the game. Bognor continued to have the lions share of possession in spite of this, but chances were now few and far between.

Ben Watson saw an effort, after another impressive build-up, blocked before City made the switch that was to change the course of the afternoon. Simpson was withdrawn and given generous applause by the City faithful, making way for exciting young striker Jon Stevenson. The pacy youngster didn’t have to wait long to make his presence felt. Lee Chaffey played a long ball upfield down the left, Sadler flicked on and suddenly Stevenson was bearing down on keeper Will Packham before clincally firing home, to the delight of the travelling fans who cheered their heroes through the closing stages.

Bognor were visibly stunned by this decisive action and, although they huffed and puffed in search of a point they probably deserved, looked like a team that had largely run out of ideas. The closest they came was a Scott Kirkwood effort which took a wicked deflection off Matt Langston’s outstretched leg and flew narrowly over the crossbar.

There were to be no more alarms and the referee duly brought proceedings to a close. Three more points gained, this time against highly impressive opposition.