Invicta battled to a 4-1 win over Bognor Regis Town in torrid conditions on Saturday afternoon, as former Rock’s frontman Dan Smith netted a hat-trick to make it 3 straight league wins for Andy Drury’s side.

The pitch at the Alcaline Stadium had taken an overnight downpour but was deemed perfectly playable by the match referee upon his early arrival, but continual rain that started at approximately 2:15pm left many worried over whether the fixture would start or be played to completion.

The manager was able to select an unchanged side from that which had beaten Dulwich Hamlet on Tuesday evening, a performance he declared the best since he took the job a year ago. The only change came on the bench, with Tom Derry unavailable academy goalkeeper Dan Kennedy took his spot.

Ends were swapped before kick off, meaning instead of attacking what would be a near empty Cricket Ground End terrace in the second half, Invicta would finish the match kicking towards the West Stand that housed supporters of both clubs for the majority of the afternoon.

A little over 20 rather brave Invicta supporters had taken up spots on the open terrace behind the goal as Invicta won the first of a series of earlier corners. The first being cleared for a second which was then turned behind by Marvel Ekpiteta at the back post. A few minutes later another corner was pushed over the crossbar by goalkeeper Ryan Hall, another headed over by defender Tommy Block before Jebb’s 5th delivery, the first coming from the right, found the head of captain Ian Gayle in the centre of the penalty area to power the ball beyond the keeper and give Invicta a 10th minute lead.

Invicta were hit with a blow a few minutes later as winger Matthias Fanimo had to be replaced by Sam Blackman.

Jebb’s next set piece delivery came from a free kick after 20 minutes, a ball from wide on the right finding Kassaraté at the back post, the midfielder getting low to get his head on the ball but unable to find the target.

The supporters in the West Stand had so far watched most of the action from afar, but drama ensured at the midway point of the first half as the visitors were awarded a penalty when Harvey Whyte went to ground as a corner. Bognor’s leading goalscorer Tommy-Lee Higgs stepped up to beat Henly from the spot to level the score.

Bognor suffered an injury of their own shortly after as new signing Charlie Lambert had to be replaced by Jasper Mather.

The rain soon reached its peak, high winds blowing it almost horizontally across the pitch as Higgs was played in behind the Invicta defence to strike an effort against the post shortly before half time.

It was Invicta however who would go in ahead as Dan Smith came back to haunt his former club. Gavin Hoyte played the ball wide on the right to Kassaraté who did well, having to come to collect the ball after it held on the pitch before driving to the byline and delivering a cross that Invicta’s top scorer rose high to head beyond Hall, a defender on the line unable to clear it.

After a lot of frantic forking of the pitch during the interval Invicta kicked off for the second half now attacking a full West Stand with Joel Odeniran now lining up in the defence in place of Ekpiteta. It was now a hardy dozen travelling supports that were now taking shelter under the bare tree behind the open terrace.

Ian Gayle was continuing to prove a threat from Jebb’s set pieces, heading wide directly from a corner and again from a second ball from a free kick.

Conditions continued to worsen, particularly down Invicta’s left flank, and it was certainly a worry that the referee may decide to call time on the afternoon every time the ball made a splash. Joe Turner managed to make the best of a bad situation as he played a lovely one-two with a puddle, although maybe Frankie Morgan was the intended target of his pass.

The conditions weren’t conducive for either side to create chances and it was vital that whoever did was clinical, thankfully Dan Smith proved to be just that when a chance finally came his way with a little over 10 minutes to play. Odeniran was first to a loose ball 10 yards inside the Invicta half, firing a long pass in behind Bognor’s defence to Smith who took one touch before finishing beyond Hall to give some breathing space.

Deep into stoppage time Smith sealed his second hat-trick of the season to consign his former club to their second consecutive 4-1 away defeat. Blackman received the ball from a Gavin Hoyte throw and looked for Smith on the edge of the penalty area, a slightly mishit pass that found a defender only for the uncertain bounce to take the ball under his foot and straight to Smith who had the time to place a left footed effort beyond Hall to complete a perfect hat-trick of header, left foot and right foot.

Bognor restarted the action to be met immediately with the final whistle, Invicta players happy to stay out a little longer in the horrendous conditions as they headed over to the far end to celebrate the 3rd consecutive home win with those fans who had braved the weather.

Unsurprisingly, Dan Smith was selected at Man of the Match on behalf of our match sponsors GSE for his hat-trick, taking home the award alongside the match ball. The hat trick takes Dan to 14 goals for the season and 10 in the Isthmian Premier Division, leaving him joint 6th highest scorer in the league.

After trips to Horsham and Whitehawk, Invicta’s next home fixture sees us welcome Cheshunt on Saturday 7th December. Tickets are on sale now.