Lewes 0 Bognor 1.

FASTEN your seatbelts because the run-in to this title race is going to be a rocky ride whoever you support.

Lewes still hold a six-point lead but the battle to be Blue Square south champions is going to the wire.

For most of the season Lewes and Eastbourne Borough have matched each other win for win - then one loses and the other one does too.

Nothing has changed at the top of the table but defeat for Lewes at home to Bognor was arguably more damaging than it was for Borough to lose at Bishop's Stortford.

Lewes were expected to win - and should have done at a canter on the balance of play - while a trip to Hertfordshire always looked a tougher proposition.

Borough can cut the Rooks' lead to three points with a game in hand if they beat Bognor tomorrow night and, with Lewes now having lost back-to-back home games, the title really is up for grabs.

Anyone who was ready to hand it to Lewes when they beat Borough a month ago was making a mistake. Lewes manager Steven King said so at the time and still believes it now.

There will be plenty more twists and turns to come but the Rooks boss viewed Saturday's loss as a missed opportunity.

He said: "With Eastbourne Borough losing we could have stretched our lead. That would have given us a lifeline to maybe lose one of those bigger games at Newport or Bath.

"But playing like that is not good enough and I have told the players that. We may have created lots of chances but you have got to take them to be good enough.

"People couldn't say we played badly, we just didn't take our chances."

While the mood in the Lewes camp was downbeat on Saturday evening, it was in stark contrast to the opposition.

Let's not forget Bognor. The title race between Borough and Lewes has become all-consuming but the Rocks have their own battle to fight - for survival.

This win moved them six points clear of the relegation zone and was a huge tonic for joint managers Michael Birmingham and Darin Killpartrick.

Whether they deserved it or not is a mute point. You could argue Lewes should have been 5-0 up by half-time - Paul Booth had three chances in the first ten minutes - but you could also argue football is about taking your chances.

You could argue the 50th-minute winner should not have stood as Luke Nightingale looked clearly offside when he headed home a Scott Chamberlain free-kick but you could also argue that it did and you get your share of good and bad decisions in football.

Birmingham was delighted with the win and now wants his side to string some results together so that relegation is not an issue.

He said: "That goes down as the best result since I have taken over as manager. We beat Havant and Waterlooville in the Trophy but this easily surpasses it with the quality, depth and strength Lewes have got.

"In the first half we should have been dead and buried but, as we found out last week, if you don't take your chances you are inviting the other team on.

"It is about time we grew up and started putting back-to- back victories together because when we come across the likes of Eastbourne, Bishop's Stortford and Lewes it is no good winning one and losing two.

"If you can get six points on the bounce in this league it can shoot you up to places we haven't been to in the league this season. Until we start doing that and start getting that winning mentality of going two games on the bounce we will always be where we are and it is not good enough."

Lewes: Williams, Conroy, Hamilton (sub Groves 74), Davis (sub Barness 81), Legge, Simpemba, Drury, Holloway, Wormull, Booth, Binns. Subs not used: Kennett, Hearn, Cox.

Bognor: Stoner, Pearson, D.Birmingham, Breach, Jupp, Wallis-Tayler, Ray, Chamberlain, Beck, Nightingale, Haddow. Subs not used: Knee, Greatwich, Harris, Balfe, Temitope.

Referee: Mick McCoy (Worthing).

Attendance: 799.

l Lewes included new signing Charley Hearn on the bench against Bognor. The former Millwall midfielder has joined on a month's loan from Grays.

Another recent arrival, young Three Bridges goalkeeper, Stuart Robinson has joined Cove on loan.

Who are favourites for the title now?