Bognor boss Jack Pearce warned that a fine line will separate survival and relegation after watching his side's goalless draw with Sussex rivals Eastbourne Borough.

With the three teams immediately below Borough all winning, Garry Wilson's men are bracing themselves for a grim relegation battle.

Newport, Maidenhead and Carshalton all managed to close the gap to leave Eastbourne looking nervously over their shoulders.

But Pearce insisted: "This Nationwide south league is the most competitive I have seen for a long time and two good sides will go down. I don't think we are safe, let alone Eastbourne."

On a bitter day at Priory Lane there was little to warm the hearts of the 704 hardy spectators. Serious participation by either keeper was virtually non-existent.

The Rocks served up some attractive approach work and generally looked more likely to take the points but they met a resilient Borough defence in which Darren Baker and Ben Austin were the strong men.

Pearce was happy enough with a point away from home and said: "I thought that in the second half we were in the driving seat.

"It was one of those days when the weather conditions made it difficult for both sides.

"I felt that both teams had a stonewall penalty decision turned down and that we had a good goal disallowed.

"To my mind, the referee got three crucial decisions wrong.

"At the end of the day, though, a draw was just about right but it would have been an injustice had they won."

For Borough boss Wilson, it is a season when the struggle to turn home draws into much-needed victories is an uphill one.

This was Borough's eighth home draw out of 12 games and Wilson lamented: "If we could have turned some of these home draws into wins we would be all right.

"I thought the two teams blocked each other out today and Lee Newman (on his home debut) didn't get a great service. You couldn't really judge him on this performance.

"We should have upped the tempo in the second half when we had the wind behind us.

However, we didn't really create a lot ourselves.

"But we kept a clean sheet against a good team who beat St Alban's last week. We had a clearcut penalty denied us but this is a season when decisions like that are going against us.

"You have just got to dig your way out of it.

"Our destiny is in our own hands. We have 16 games left, nine at home and seven away.

We can't worry about other teams. We have just got to get as many points as we can."

Even against the wind, the Rocks caused problems for the Borough defence with the combination of Ben Watson and the superbly skilful Richard Hudson a continual threat.

But it was hard to create a clearcut opening against a home rearguard which gave little away.

Borough, who sold striker Yemi Odubade to Oxford last week, fought the good fight with new boy Mark Green looking impressive on the left, but an Eastbourne goal looked as far away as next Christmas.

Dan Beck, a former Eastbourne player, should have got on the scoresheet but two headed efforts, both from Hudson deliveries, were off target.

Borough did enjoy an attacking spell at the start of the second half and there were a couple of penalty shouts, the first when Newman was nudged off the ball by Charlie Balfe and the second when Scott Ramsay's overhead effort hit the arm of Kevin Murphy.

In the 65th minute, Beck finally got the ball into the net but was judged to have controlled Watson's cross with his hand.

On a second occasion when Beck appeared to push the ball into the net with his hand, Bognor players contended that he had firstly been pushed in the back and demanded a penalty.

Neither goal nor penalty was given and the game increasingly looked to have goalless draw written all over it.

David Birmingham replaced Ben Johnson and within minutes was joining team-mate Jamie Howell in referee Andy Laver's book for a late challenge on Phil Warner. Borough's Stuart Tuck and Warner were also yellow carded for fouls but the game was hard-fought rather than dirty.

In the 67th minute, Lee Hook was finally called upon to make a significant save as he dived to keep out Watson's drive.

Borough brought on Matt Smart, Danny Simmonds and Loui Fazakerley in a last ditch effort to snatch the points and it almost paid off when Fazakerley got away down the left.

But a tame shot into the arms of Craig Stoner, when a cross would have been the better option, shattered Borough's final hope of breaking the deadlock.

It summed up a season in which Borough have struggled to average a goal a game.

And with Newport away and Weymouth at home immediately ahead of them, the relegation battle is set to become even more intense.