Bottom Four Run Out of Time in The Isthmian Premier- Logan Rankin

 It is now confirmed after 40 games in the Isthmian Premier League that the bottom four will be relegated, with 2 at the first time of asking. 

Bowers and Pitsea, who were confirmed to be the first relegation cursed side a number of weeks ago, every Bowers and neutral fan alike could agree, this has been a disaster of a season. It looked to be a season of struggles in their first 5 league games, where they only managed to salvage 1 point. However, it seemed to be an FA Cup dream for Bowers and Pitsea, when they beat Isthmian title contenders, Billericay Town, 1-2 in the Fourth Qualifying Round of the FA Cup. It would take a couple of games longer to get The Bowers their first league win against- current league leaders- Dartford. Regardless, they managed to win another 6 times. But hope already had faded for the red and white club a while ago. When there was 4 more league games left to play, Bowers showed glimpses of what they wanted to produce at the Len Salmon Stadium, as they beat Folkstone Invicta 0-2 , and followed up with another 2-0 win against Potters Bar Town. There's still 2 league games to go and it looks like Bowers have gained form too late with 40 games already played. Bowers and Pitsea face Hashtag United (A) and Whitehawk (H) with the league campaign drawing to a close and a chance for The Bowers to worry the Isthmian League, Division One North what there all about.

3 more disappointing teams to focus on and Bognor Regis Town are next. Bognor made an underwhelming start to the league campaign, as they failed to pick up a win in their first 5. They started with a ding dong battle against Cheshunt, where they came home as 3-2 losers. It would yet be another FA Cup triumph, against Aylesbury Vale, where Tommy-Lee Higgs picked up a hat trick in a commanding 0-3 victory. The remainder of the season would continue to be filled with inconsistent preformances, sometimes ending in draws, wins, but most of the time losses. The only real bright spots of The Rock's season were the 2 main men that were scoring, Tommy-Lee Higgs and Jasper Mather. Tommy-Lee Higgs has currently picked up 20 league goals and has been the main creator and scorer for a struggling side in the 7th tier of English Football. Neither Higgs or Mather have truly had a taste of professional football, with Higgs coming closest playing for the Southampton U18s, and that Mather joined Bognor from Metropolitan Police back in the summer of 2023 and has been a fan favourite at Nyewood Lane picking up 29 goals in 2 seasons. Both players surely will be looking for moves elsewhere, due to their prolific goalscoring form especially for a team 21st in the Isthmian Premier League. In November 2024, Robbie Blake was banished from the managerial seat at Bognor, after an embrassising 1-7 defeat to Chatham Town. Not long after, a duel manager partnership were welcomed into the club, Jamie Howell and Micheal Birmingham, who were tasked to avoid the seeming inevitable relegation after a new consortium bought the club. This plan hasn't prevailed however, as Bognor have officially been relegated after their 1-4 defeat to Wingate and Finchley. The Rocks face Horsham (H) and Hendon (A) in their final games, and will look to end their misery sooner or later.

Hastings United are the next talking point, who has seemed to be the best pick of the bunch so far, as they picked up 7 points in their first 5 games, wins over Horsham and Whitehawk and a 2-2 draw against relegation friends, Bognor. It seemed to be going alright for Hastings, not quite a mid-table position but lower down, nearer the relegation zone and weary of the threat, but a staggering 0-9 loss, to once high flying, Hendon seemed to be the downfall for the U's. 9 games without a win would start to show the struggles the new Danny Searle, after Danny Bloor was banished, was bound to have. Nothing really seemed to change as there was still struggles and trouble in the Hastings camp, one of the many reasons for their difficulties was the departure of Hastings key player, John Ufuah, but also that could be cancelled out with the arrival of ex-Arsenal prospect, Billy Vigar. Davide Rodari was a massive reason for Hastings not finishing lower then they have done, with the non-league Swiss bagging 22 goals, the striker was also an ex-professional playing for Crawley Town, and upcoming, Marc White's, Dorking Wanderers. With 2 more games to go, Dover (A) and Potters Bar Town (H) it looks like they, again, will struggle to gain anything from them games.

Hendon are the final club to have run out of time in the Isthmian Premier League. Early on, it looked like The Dons were having a dream season with their gaffer, Lee Alison. He took them to a 6th place finish, with the biggest win coming against Hastings United, by the time he left for Hemel Heampstead in early December. You would assume with 6 months left to go and Hendon in 6th place they would atleast withstand a minimum of a mid-table finish. It seems not. Ben Bukowski hasn't had the greatest time in another spell with The Greens, only winning 1 league game since his arrival in mid December. Stefan Illic is giving the impression of being Hendon's best player this season, I cant tell you why he just is... Hendon could've had a chance to stay up but were denied by a 88th minute equaliser against Chatham from Reece Butler, which completely undermined, distinguished, and vanished Hendon's chance to stay up, and relegated at the first time of asking.

Bowers and Pitsea, Bognor Regis Town, Hastings United, and Hendon are the four clubs relegated from the Isthmian Premier League in the 24/25 campaign. Bowers and Hendon at the first time of asking, Bognor out after 12 years, and Hastings after 3 years. We hope to see these four achieve promotion back to the Isthmian.