Eastleigh 0-0 Lewes
EASTLEIGH V LEWES
TUESDAY 6th FEBRUARY 2007
Conference South
After a comfortable 3-0 win at the Dripping Pan on Saturday, Eastleigh will be disappointed to have only picked up a point on their own turf in a somewhat closely fought, scrappy, goalless draw. Jason Dodd named an unchanged side from the eleven that came away victorious just a couple of days earlier, with tonights visitors, unsurprisingly making three changes.
To begin with, the match started at a frantic pace and both sides looked eager to nick an early goal but were perhaps a little too keen as there were several players caught offside within a short space of time.
Eastleigh’s first attack on goal came from a good ball from the captain, Danny Smith, which slipped underneath the foot of Lewis Hamilton allowing Andy Forbes a free run at goal. Unfortunately the scorer of two goals at the weekend, decided to come back on himself and by then the Lewes defence had recovered.
Minutes later, Lewes had their first attempt at goal with a Chris Sharpling header sailing comfortably wide of the mark from a good right wing cross by Simon Wormull.
The confidence from Saturday’s winners briefly showed in a good spell of five or so minutes. Excellent approach play was evident from the home side but there proved to be no end product. A neat touch from Steve Forbes linking up well with Steve Watts was a joy to watch, however the final ball from Jamie Brown was a huge let down with players waiting in the middle.
Darren Wheeler put in an inviting cross from the left hand side that managed to bounce against a Lewes defender falling perfectly for Andy Forbes. However, the Eastleigh forward was deemed harshly offside.
Tempers began to boil as the half wore on, with Lewes midfielder Gary Holloway always over-exuberant - following through with tackles and looking to cause trouble. The referee let at least three of his challenges go by without even speaking to the player and then baffled home fans by brandishing a yellow card to Jamie Brown when he headed a ball that he had every right to go for. There was certainly nothing malicious about it, though the referee was quick to get him into the book.
With 29 minutes played, Steve Forbes had a good chance for the Spitfires as he forced his way through the Lewes defence and got a good shot in with his left foot only to see it deflected behind for a corner kick. As we’ve seen so many times in the past the corner went straight to the opposition despite it being a good opportunity to cause a threat.
Eastleigh continued to take the game to Lewes but couldn’t find the killer instinct that they showed in abundance away from home in the same fixture. Tarkan Mustafa, who put in yet another solid display at right back, carefully placed a cross into the 18-yard box that hit the skipper Stephen Robinson awkwardly, ricocheting backwards. Andy Forbes was in exactly the right place, and had it fallen on his right foot, Eastleigh would have been a goal to the good. Still, from that position it was a poor attempt and the prolific goalscorer should have hit the target at the very least.
Just over half an hour of football had been played when new signing Steve Watts hobbled off the pitch with an injury to his thigh. Before this, Watts had been winning a number of flick on’s with his head feeding balls through to Forbes nicely. Carl Wilson-Denis took to the field to replace him.
A further chance fell to Andy Forbes ten minutes before the end of the half and it was perhaps an even better opportunity. This time it was a quality delivery from Ian Oliver, who did more than enough to keep his place in the side. As it was, Francis Benali was injured anyway, but the young full back fully deserved to be there. As the ball came in through a crowd of players, Forbes picked the ball up with his back to goal and this time hit it much more cleanly. It looked to be creeping in at the near post and almost certainly took a deflection off a Lewes defender. Bizarrely the referee awarded a goal kick.
The Spitfires ended the half very well kicking up a gear and putting more and more pressure on Lewes. Steve Forbes demonstrated excellent wing play as he faked a dummy and went past the left back Matt McEnteggart with ease before curling a deep cross to the back post. Andy Forbes kept the ball in play with a good header, but Steven Williams in the Lewes goal got there just ahead of substitute Wilson-Denis.
Two more chances came Eastleigh’s way firstly, Andy Forbes nodded the ball on expertly for strike partner Wilson-Denis who held the ball up in typical stylish fashion. After this good work, Brown failed to make the attacking numbers count with a poor final pass that went hopelessly out of play.
The best chance in the half came right at the end for Eastleigh, with yet another dirty foul and no card, giving the home side a free kick in a promising position about ten yards outside the penalty area. It was cleverly disguised with Danny Smith knocking it short to Wheeler who floated the ball into the path of Jamie Brown. The ball sat up kindly and the header flew inches wide of goal.
At the other end, Karim El-Salahi made two fantastic saving tackles as Lewes tried to get something on the counter attack deep into injury time.
TUESDAY 6th FEBRUARY 2007
Conference South
After a comfortable 3-0 win at the Dripping Pan on Saturday, Eastleigh will be disappointed to have only picked up a point on their own turf in a somewhat closely fought, scrappy, goalless draw. Jason Dodd named an unchanged side from the eleven that came away victorious just a couple of days earlier, with tonights visitors, unsurprisingly making three changes.
To begin with, the match started at a frantic pace and both sides looked eager to nick an early goal but were perhaps a little too keen as there were several players caught offside within a short space of time.
Eastleigh’s first attack on goal came from a good ball from the captain, Danny Smith, which slipped underneath the foot of Lewis Hamilton allowing Andy Forbes a free run at goal. Unfortunately the scorer of two goals at the weekend, decided to come back on himself and by then the Lewes defence had recovered.
Minutes later, Lewes had their first attempt at goal with a Chris Sharpling header sailing comfortably wide of the mark from a good right wing cross by Simon Wormull.
The confidence from Saturday’s winners briefly showed in a good spell of five or so minutes. Excellent approach play was evident from the home side but there proved to be no end product. A neat touch from Steve Forbes linking up well with Steve Watts was a joy to watch, however the final ball from Jamie Brown was a huge let down with players waiting in the middle.
Darren Wheeler put in an inviting cross from the left hand side that managed to bounce against a Lewes defender falling perfectly for Andy Forbes. However, the Eastleigh forward was deemed harshly offside.
Tempers began to boil as the half wore on, with Lewes midfielder Gary Holloway always over-exuberant - following through with tackles and looking to cause trouble. The referee let at least three of his challenges go by without even speaking to the player and then baffled home fans by brandishing a yellow card to Jamie Brown when he headed a ball that he had every right to go for. There was certainly nothing malicious about it, though the referee was quick to get him into the book.
With 29 minutes played, Steve Forbes had a good chance for the Spitfires as he forced his way through the Lewes defence and got a good shot in with his left foot only to see it deflected behind for a corner kick. As we’ve seen so many times in the past the corner went straight to the opposition despite it being a good opportunity to cause a threat.
Eastleigh continued to take the game to Lewes but couldn’t find the killer instinct that they showed in abundance away from home in the same fixture. Tarkan Mustafa, who put in yet another solid display at right back, carefully placed a cross into the 18-yard box that hit the skipper Stephen Robinson awkwardly, ricocheting backwards. Andy Forbes was in exactly the right place, and had it fallen on his right foot, Eastleigh would have been a goal to the good. Still, from that position it was a poor attempt and the prolific goalscorer should have hit the target at the very least.
Just over half an hour of football had been played when new signing Steve Watts hobbled off the pitch with an injury to his thigh. Before this, Watts had been winning a number of flick on’s with his head feeding balls through to Forbes nicely. Carl Wilson-Denis took to the field to replace him.
A further chance fell to Andy Forbes ten minutes before the end of the half and it was perhaps an even better opportunity. This time it was a quality delivery from Ian Oliver, who did more than enough to keep his place in the side. As it was, Francis Benali was injured anyway, but the young full back fully deserved to be there. As the ball came in through a crowd of players, Forbes picked the ball up with his back to goal and this time hit it much more cleanly. It looked to be creeping in at the near post and almost certainly took a deflection off a Lewes defender. Bizarrely the referee awarded a goal kick.
The Spitfires ended the half very well kicking up a gear and putting more and more pressure on Lewes. Steve Forbes demonstrated excellent wing play as he faked a dummy and went past the left back Matt McEnteggart with ease before curling a deep cross to the back post. Andy Forbes kept the ball in play with a good header, but Steven Williams in the Lewes goal got there just ahead of substitute Wilson-Denis.
Two more chances came Eastleigh’s way firstly, Andy Forbes nodded the ball on expertly for strike partner Wilson-Denis who held the ball up in typical stylish fashion. After this good work, Brown failed to make the attacking numbers count with a poor final pass that went hopelessly out of play.
The best chance in the half came right at the end for Eastleigh, with yet another dirty foul and no card, giving the home side a free kick in a promising position about ten yards outside the penalty area. It was cleverly disguised with Danny Smith knocking it short to Wheeler who floated the ball into the path of Jamie Brown. The ball sat up kindly and the header flew inches wide of goal.
At the other end, Karim El-Salahi made two fantastic saving tackles as Lewes tried to get something on the counter attack deep into injury time.
There was still time for a penalty shout when Wilson-Denis was upended in the area, with Lewis Hamilton getting nowhere near the ball and definitely making contact with the former Havant striker. The referee saw nothing wrong with the challenge, and brought a good first forty-five minutes from Eastleigh to an end.
HALF TIME – Eastleigh 0-0 Lewes
An injury to one of the referee’s assistant meant he could no longer continue and led to an unforeseen 30-minute delay whilst a replacement made his way to the ground.
The second half was not worth the long and painful wait in the cold, with challenges flying in, the game wasn’t allowed to flow and was more stop-start football. This more than anything completely diminished what was a fairly exciting first period.
Just five minutes had gone when the referee was quick to his pockets once more. Danny Smith clearly slipped on the wet surface accidentally taking the player and not the ball. It was rightly a free kick but a yellow card seemed unjustified punishment.
Steve Forbes was the next into the book with a clumsy late challenge but it made you wonder why Lewes didn’t receive the same treatment for their many fouls.
Within a matter of minutes from these two incidents, Lewes substitute Leon Legge took down Wilson-Denis with a tackle more suited to a rugby game and did not even get a warning. Danny Smith took the free kick early, spotting the run of Andy Forbes, who fell down in a heap under yet another heavy challenge; in the end he was judged to be offside anyway.
The stop-start fashion continued right the way through the second half with free kicks coming from all over the park. Finally Simon Wormull was shown a yellow card after getting away with at least three other fouls. From the free kick, the ball bounced unfortunately off Andy Forbes’ knee with the keeper collecting the loose ball.
Eastleigh’s first attempt at goal amid all the fouls came in the 67th minute when Darren Wheeler ran at McEnteggart with great pace before switching onto his left foot and letting fly from distance. Williams in the Lewes goal saved comfortably as it was straight at him.
Five minutes later, Jason Dodd’s side were denied a clear cut free kick with the last man Leon Legge going right through Andy Forbes and getting no where near the ball. Incredibly play was allowed to go on with Forbes feeling all the pain and the whole ground left in astonishment that no action was taken.
Lewes had the best chance to steal the points when French striker Jean-Michel Sigere’s first taste of the action was to squander a golden opportunity. Simon Wormull lofted the ball over the top of the Eastleigh defence to find Sigere in acres of space. With all the time on his hands, the striker slipped embarrassingly and scuffed his effort in an awful miss.
After more fouls from Lewes, who appeared to get away with so much of it, Eastleigh tried to get what they deserved but there was to be no way through after working the ball right across the pitch.
Running out of ideas, Steve West was introduced as Eastleigh’s third substitution, David Hughes coming on midway through the half at the expense of Wheeler.
The last flurry of chances went to Lewes firstly with Legge failing to capitalise on Pullen’s missed catch from a free kick. And then Sigere with the final action of the game in injury time forcing a great save out of Pullen who made up for his earlier error with a great block to keep the game level at the death.
FULL TIME – Eastleigh 0-0 Lewes
JAMIE MONTIGUE
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