Bexhill claim opening day point

But this was a Sussex Division Two match that United could and perhaps should have won against a side that looked as if it may have a long, hard season ahead.

"It wasn't a great game," admitted joint manager Bill Trivett. "It didn't really open up, it did seem a bit flat at times and I don't think we played as well as we could.

"We came away with a point from an away game so we can't grumble about that, but if we had played a bit more football it was certainly a game we could have won because we had them pinned back for a long period of time, especially in the first 20 minutes."

Bexhill were without doubt the better team during the first half as they retained possession far better on a bumpy pitch in a wet and windy West Sussex.

They could have taken a third minute lead when Dave Carey's snap shot from close range was hacked off the line by Ryan Pratt, but ended up going behind to Steyning's first attack after five minutes.

Neil Read, the hosts' one real shining light, robbed and then turned Tim Funnell before shooting beyond the dive of Aaron Heritage.

Carey, the second highest scorer in Division Three last season, equalised a quarter-of-an-hour later, though, clinically driving across home goalkeeper Keith Cheal after Pratt had misjudged the flight of a long, diagonal ball.

There was little incident of note thereafter until Bexhill's Sam Thompson, who looked by far and away the game's most accomplished player, was helped off with a broken wrist following a hefty challenge from behind just after the hour mark.

United seemed to lose their way for a while after Thompson's departure and had to endure a few nervy moments at the back, although they did finish the game strongly.

On the evidence of the opening day, United should have enough to hold their own in a higher division, although the absence of a genuine holding midfielder could see them caught out on the counter-attack during the stiffer tests that lie ahead.