Spitfires defeat Saints
EASTLEIGH V SOUTHAMPTON
TUESDAY 21st NOVEMBER 2006
FRIENDLY
After a very disappointing defeat at the hands of Cambridge on Saturday, Eastleigh earnt a well-fought victory over a youthful Southampton side featuring David Prutton (who the friendly was set up for to help the midfielder comeback from injury), for the second time this season having beat the Championship side back in pre-season.
The result has left people wondering why the same kind of performance and work ethic cannot be shown when it really matters, in the league fixtures, however tonight’s display demonstrated that things can and will get better if the effort is put in.
Nathan Dyer and Adam Lallana threatened regularly and it was the trickery of these two talented youngsters that created David McGoldrick a golden opportunity to give the Saints the lead on six minutes. The effort was poor however, and the chance went amiss.
Eastleigh’s first attempt on goal came from a corner that was won by Darren Wheeler. The ball was floated in from the left and was met by a sweet strike from new signing Tarkan Mustafa. His shot looked destined for the back of the net but was denied by his own player as it bounced back wickedly off the knees of Jamie Brown.
Despite this effort going astray, the Spitfires dug in and continued to create opportunities. Phil Cousins came close as he worked an opening on the edge of the box but couldn’t find a way through.
Southampton began to get into their stride as the half wore on, lovely one touch football should have led to the opening goal of the game. Again the lively Lallana was involved, his shot being turned away by the commanding James Pullen, Nathan Dyer followed up by skied the ball way over the stand.
Perhaps Eastleigh’s best chance came on the half hour mark, when a long Rob Marshall throw from the right caused the Southampton defence all kinds of problems. The ball bounced over the heads of two defenders before sitting up nicely for Andy Forbes, six yards from goal. Had the chance fallen for the predator on his right foot it would have been advantage Eastleigh but it didn’t and the weak shot led to the chance being squandered.
Paul Doswell’s side continued their brief spell of pressure with Tarkan Mustafa coming very close. Winger, Darren Wheeler ran half the length of the field before spreading it wide for Mustafa. The former Thurrock right-sided player took a touch to get the ball out of his feet before letting rip with a curling effort, which was denied only by a slight deflection.
At the other end, McGoldrick scuffed an effort goalwards with his left foot that despite not being struck particularly well, caused keeper James Pullen problems as it skidded horribly across the surface with the 24 year old stopper scrambling across goal. From the resulting corner Leon Best headed inches over the bar with a powerful header.
The dedication of Jamie Brown for Eastleigh saw Saints under immense pressure as the former Magpie put himself in for several challenges by the corner flag not letting the visitors clear their lines. Eventually the ball came loose and Mustafa sent the ball just past the post despite not being completely balanced when striking it.
Chances were coming thick and fast with just five minutes to the interval as it continued to sway from one end to the other. Leon Best, back from his loan spell at Bournemouth, saw his 25 yard snap shot comfortably saved by Pullen who started a counter attack in an instant. Had Jamie Brown shown a little more composure in front of goal, it would have been 1-0 Eastleigh going into the break as he got it all wrong connecting with the long ball upfield.
Brown, again was at the centre of attention when his header flew over the cross bar after a well-worked move down the left. Darren Wheeler whipped in a good ball picking out Brown whose punched header missed it’s destination of the top corner.
HALF TIME – Eastleigh 0-0 Southampton
It was more of the same in the second forty-five for both sides. Eastleigh continued their good showing against classy opponents, using their players well and working hard for each other.
Almost immediately, there could have been a big upset for Saints as Bartosz Bialkowski made a hash of a routine clearance smashing the ball straight at Andy Forbes. Fortunately for the Polish keeper, nothing came of it.
David Prutton had a couple of good efforts but nothing of real trouble for Eastleigh, firstly a run and shot from distance and then a header comfortably wide from a Marcelo Sarmiento cross.
Eastleigh’s Steve West will feel more than lucky for not conceding a penalty against Prutton moments later when his heavy challenge didn’t warrant a foul in the eyes of the referee.
The Saints had arguably the best chance of the game when Adam Lallana put it on a plate for David McGoldrick who had both time and space, he only had to beat Pullen from close range but yet again failed to hit the target.
Having survived this attack, Eastleigh somehow were let off once more just after 60 minutes. Leon Best made a positive dribble towards goal before finally smashing against Adam Lallana, who couldn’t get out of the way from Best’s powerful strike. This deflection fell very kindly for Nathan Dyer, however his feeble miscued effort from a couple of yards gave a reason to believe that it wasn’t going to be their night.
Then came a whole surge of Eastleigh substitutions. Liam Green, Martin Beck, Ian Oliver, Jack Smith and Adam Roberts all took to the field to replace Darren Wheeler, Tarkan Mustafa, Danny Smith, Phil Cousins and Francis Benali.
The arrival of MARTIN BECK proved to be inspirational! His first part of the action led to the only goal of the game, and what a strike it was too. Eastleigh won a free kick 10 yards in from the half way line, Beck shaped up to cross the ball out from the deep on the left hand side but instead caught Bialkowski off his guard with a stunner from way out beating the Southampton keeper all ends up. It wasn’t surprising to hear the chants of shoot every time Beck touched the ball thereafter!
Having gone a goal down, Saints’ only response was one decent strike by McGoldrick following excellent wing play involving Dyer and Lallana. James Pullen was more than equal to the strike and never looked like giving his clean sheet away.
Another Eastleigh substitute, Karim Hraiba very nearly made things worse for Saints a minute from the end. The Frenchman carved his way through skillfully before unleashing a lovely strike that whistled past the post after a deflection.
At the final whistle, it has to be said that Eastleigh thoroughly deserved their win for non-stop effort and putting up with the very tricky Nathan Dyer all evening. The performance more than anything from the Spitfires oozed character and tremendous work ethic. If this can be carried through into the rest of our season there will be no issue of a relegation battle which this club are far too good for.
FULL TIME – Eastleigh 1-0 Southampton
JAMIE MONTIGUE
TUESDAY 21st NOVEMBER 2006
FRIENDLY
After a very disappointing defeat at the hands of Cambridge on Saturday, Eastleigh earnt a well-fought victory over a youthful Southampton side featuring David Prutton (who the friendly was set up for to help the midfielder comeback from injury), for the second time this season having beat the Championship side back in pre-season.
The result has left people wondering why the same kind of performance and work ethic cannot be shown when it really matters, in the league fixtures, however tonight’s display demonstrated that things can and will get better if the effort is put in.
Nathan Dyer and Adam Lallana threatened regularly and it was the trickery of these two talented youngsters that created David McGoldrick a golden opportunity to give the Saints the lead on six minutes. The effort was poor however, and the chance went amiss.
Eastleigh’s first attempt on goal came from a corner that was won by Darren Wheeler. The ball was floated in from the left and was met by a sweet strike from new signing Tarkan Mustafa. His shot looked destined for the back of the net but was denied by his own player as it bounced back wickedly off the knees of Jamie Brown.
Despite this effort going astray, the Spitfires dug in and continued to create opportunities. Phil Cousins came close as he worked an opening on the edge of the box but couldn’t find a way through.
Southampton began to get into their stride as the half wore on, lovely one touch football should have led to the opening goal of the game. Again the lively Lallana was involved, his shot being turned away by the commanding James Pullen, Nathan Dyer followed up by skied the ball way over the stand.
Perhaps Eastleigh’s best chance came on the half hour mark, when a long Rob Marshall throw from the right caused the Southampton defence all kinds of problems. The ball bounced over the heads of two defenders before sitting up nicely for Andy Forbes, six yards from goal. Had the chance fallen for the predator on his right foot it would have been advantage Eastleigh but it didn’t and the weak shot led to the chance being squandered.
Paul Doswell’s side continued their brief spell of pressure with Tarkan Mustafa coming very close. Winger, Darren Wheeler ran half the length of the field before spreading it wide for Mustafa. The former Thurrock right-sided player took a touch to get the ball out of his feet before letting rip with a curling effort, which was denied only by a slight deflection.
At the other end, McGoldrick scuffed an effort goalwards with his left foot that despite not being struck particularly well, caused keeper James Pullen problems as it skidded horribly across the surface with the 24 year old stopper scrambling across goal. From the resulting corner Leon Best headed inches over the bar with a powerful header.
The dedication of Jamie Brown for Eastleigh saw Saints under immense pressure as the former Magpie put himself in for several challenges by the corner flag not letting the visitors clear their lines. Eventually the ball came loose and Mustafa sent the ball just past the post despite not being completely balanced when striking it.
Chances were coming thick and fast with just five minutes to the interval as it continued to sway from one end to the other. Leon Best, back from his loan spell at Bournemouth, saw his 25 yard snap shot comfortably saved by Pullen who started a counter attack in an instant. Had Jamie Brown shown a little more composure in front of goal, it would have been 1-0 Eastleigh going into the break as he got it all wrong connecting with the long ball upfield.
Brown, again was at the centre of attention when his header flew over the cross bar after a well-worked move down the left. Darren Wheeler whipped in a good ball picking out Brown whose punched header missed it’s destination of the top corner.
HALF TIME – Eastleigh 0-0 Southampton
It was more of the same in the second forty-five for both sides. Eastleigh continued their good showing against classy opponents, using their players well and working hard for each other.
Almost immediately, there could have been a big upset for Saints as Bartosz Bialkowski made a hash of a routine clearance smashing the ball straight at Andy Forbes. Fortunately for the Polish keeper, nothing came of it.
David Prutton had a couple of good efforts but nothing of real trouble for Eastleigh, firstly a run and shot from distance and then a header comfortably wide from a Marcelo Sarmiento cross.
Eastleigh’s Steve West will feel more than lucky for not conceding a penalty against Prutton moments later when his heavy challenge didn’t warrant a foul in the eyes of the referee.
The Saints had arguably the best chance of the game when Adam Lallana put it on a plate for David McGoldrick who had both time and space, he only had to beat Pullen from close range but yet again failed to hit the target.
Having survived this attack, Eastleigh somehow were let off once more just after 60 minutes. Leon Best made a positive dribble towards goal before finally smashing against Adam Lallana, who couldn’t get out of the way from Best’s powerful strike. This deflection fell very kindly for Nathan Dyer, however his feeble miscued effort from a couple of yards gave a reason to believe that it wasn’t going to be their night.
Then came a whole surge of Eastleigh substitutions. Liam Green, Martin Beck, Ian Oliver, Jack Smith and Adam Roberts all took to the field to replace Darren Wheeler, Tarkan Mustafa, Danny Smith, Phil Cousins and Francis Benali.
The arrival of MARTIN BECK proved to be inspirational! His first part of the action led to the only goal of the game, and what a strike it was too. Eastleigh won a free kick 10 yards in from the half way line, Beck shaped up to cross the ball out from the deep on the left hand side but instead caught Bialkowski off his guard with a stunner from way out beating the Southampton keeper all ends up. It wasn’t surprising to hear the chants of shoot every time Beck touched the ball thereafter!
Having gone a goal down, Saints’ only response was one decent strike by McGoldrick following excellent wing play involving Dyer and Lallana. James Pullen was more than equal to the strike and never looked like giving his clean sheet away.
Another Eastleigh substitute, Karim Hraiba very nearly made things worse for Saints a minute from the end. The Frenchman carved his way through skillfully before unleashing a lovely strike that whistled past the post after a deflection.
At the final whistle, it has to be said that Eastleigh thoroughly deserved their win for non-stop effort and putting up with the very tricky Nathan Dyer all evening. The performance more than anything from the Spitfires oozed character and tremendous work ethic. If this can be carried through into the rest of our season there will be no issue of a relegation battle which this club are far too good for.
FULL TIME – Eastleigh 1-0 Southampton
JAMIE MONTIGUE
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