Havant Spoil The Party

EASTLEIGH V HAVANT AND WATERLOOVILLE
SATURDAY 29TH APRIL 2006

CONFERENCE SOUTH




This season’s final game came on a bright sunny afternoon against local rivals Havant and the party started off well enough for Eastleigh when Dave Town scored early on but things started to go wrong when Wayne Shaw picked up an injury and Havant went on to ensure Eastleigh’s season would end with a heavy defeat. This game aside, it has been an absolutely brilliant first campaign in the Conference South.

In the first minute of the game, Andy Forbes was given a glorious chance to open the scoring when Martin Thomas flicked the ball through to the clubs top goalscorer but his effort was straight at the keeper.

Eastleigh continued to pressure and Rob Marshall who scored an 89th minute winner at Lewes last week came close to scoring when a corner ball from Hodgson found Dave Town at the back post who did well to keep the ball in play to cushion it towards Marshall who acrobatically volleyed just wide of goal.

A good Eastleigh move involving Jack Smith and Andy Forbes resulted in the opening goal. Smith’s right wing cross came into the box and Andy Forbes laid the ball back for DAVE TOWN who smashed the ball into the bottom right hand corner to give the home side a well deserved lead.

However, things were about to get much worse for Eastleigh. In the 21st minute of the game Wayne Shaw stepped up to take a goal kick and as he did so he kicked into the ground and this incident resulted in him receiving treatment before it was decided he could not continue. With no goalkeeper on the bench, Mark Blake (defender) had the unthankful and daunting task of replacing Shaw who later went to hospital.

Soon after this change, Eastleigh should have had a penalty. David Hughes’ pass to Martin Thomas saw the former Saints full back flick the ball over Mark Brown in the Havant goal before being brought down right in front of the referee but strangely nothing was given and the ball was cleared for a corner.

As the ball came in Havant cleared and broke away with four attackers against Jack Smith and Ian Oliver. BRETT POATE received the ball on the halfway line and just ran towards goal before firing past Blake from 18 yards with a good strike to equalise.

In the blink of an eye the ball was in the back of the net once more. This time the ball was played over the top for RICHARD PACQUETTE who took one touch to head the ball down before lashing the ball low into the goal for Havant’s second goal in the space of two minutes.

And the visitors were still not satisfied! After an 18-man brawl as a result of Richard Hodgson’s late challenge – the free kick was eventually taken and Thomas cleared for a corner. As the ball came in Blake couldn’t quite get to the ball and Havant capitalised on this by forcing an effort goal bound which came off Thomas in the process for an own goal and to give Havant a healthy two goal advantage going into half time.

HALF TIME – Eastleigh 1-3 Havant and Waterlooville

After an unfortunate first half as a result of Shaw’s injury, things didn’t get an awful lot better for Eastleigh and chances were few and far between.

In the 53rd minute Rob Marshall came off with a dead leg and was replaced by the young Adam Roberts.

Eastleigh’s first effort of the half came from a David Hughes free kick which was met by a great leap and powerful header from the skipper Chris Collins that the keeper kept out diving to his left.

Moments later, Havant really should have scored a fourth. Richard Pacquette’s skill on the right hand side saw him past Ian Oliver and his inch perfect cross beat Blake and found a team-mate unmarked in the box and somehow he headered over missing a open goal and a great opportunity.

The substitute, Roberts did well with the ball at his feet to get past his man before squaring for the unmarked Hodgson who hit it first time with his left foot but the effort went just wide of the post and out for a goal kick.

ANDY FORBES scored Eastleigh’s second when he rounded the Havant keeper before coolly finish from a tight angle to give the team some hope that maybe they could fight for the last ten minutes to try and find an equaliser. This was not the case however as Havant scored yet another three goals in the space of ten minutes just as they had done at the end of the first half.

Havant’s fourth goal came in the 81st minute from ROCKY BAPTISTE who virtually walked into the Eastleigh penalty area from the left hand side before slamming the ball home with ease and unchallenged. This happened only two minutes after Forbes’ goal and just when Eastleigh were showing signs of getting something from the game.

Two almost identical corners resulted in Havant’s fifth and sixth goals. NEIL SHARP headered home in the 86th minute for number five before TOM JORDAN well and truly wrapped up the game with another header just before the final whistle.

Whilst this was not the best way to sign off the season, it is undeniable that both the players, the management and all the staff have played their part in what has been a great achievement to finish so high up the table in our first go at Conference South football.

Roll on next season and lets hope we can go one step further by securing promotion!

FULL TIME – Eastleigh 2-6 Havant and Waterlooville

JAMIE MONTIGUE

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Deal sealed with Lawshield

Eastleigh Res. 0-1 Tooting & Mitcham Utd Res.

Richard Hill