Eastleigh 3-1 Newport County
EASTLEIGH V NEWPORT COUNTY
MONDAY 12th MARCH 2007
Conference South
So far so good, as Eastleigh pressed on with their busy schedule with a second comprehensive win in as many days. Yet another classy performance from the Spitfires saw them come out firing on all cylinders finding themselves two goals to the good in the blink of an eye, and just like they did in the Farnborough match at the weekend, they comfortably saw the game out.
The only change from the winning side, saw Liam Green replace the injured David Hughes in the centre of midfield.
Newport were panicking from the start with the excellent Steve Watts and Jamie Brown letting their presence be felt up the front, giving their opponents no time on the ball. The constant chasing down and pressure from the two Eastleigh forwards almost led to catastrophe in the third minute for Newport, as Stewart Edwards played across his own goal with his keeper missing the ball before it was eventually hacked away.
Scorer of Eastleigh’s third goal on Saturday, Steve Watts continued to impress and had a good couple of efforts inside the first five or so minutes. Firstly from a Darren Wheeler corner on the right. Watts’ header looked destined for goal but was deflected behind. Moments later, Jason Dodd’s side had the ball in the back of the net with a well worked move that saw Andy Forbes pick out Watts in the centre, who beat the keeper from 6 yards only to find the flag waving. It was for an earlier infringement involving Jamie Brown and the Eastleigh faithful had to hold back their celebrations for a brief while.
Andy Forbes, providing much needed width on the right hand side of midfield, curled an inch perfect cross to find a flying Watts, whose diving header brushed the side netting.
Despite all of this pressure and chances, it may have counted for nothing had the referee spotted a handball from Steve West in the penalty area at the opposite end. County’s Craig Hughes flicked the ball up against the Eastleigh centre half followed by a rupture of penalty shouts, all to no avail as the referee Colin Lymer missed the incident.
This is where Eastleigh’s fortune has been against them in the past, but the brief scare only inspired them on to better things. They were soon back into the positive attacking football and created a good opportunity in the fourteenth minute. Karim El-Salahi, a revelation for us since signing from Woking, took a quick glance up before whipping the ball out to Andy Forbes. Danny Smith then received it in the centre but scuffed his shot.
Then came the all-important early goal, a controversial moment also. Steve Watts cut out a short back pass with fantastic pace to flick past goalkeeper Mark Ovendale, the last man. Ovendale brought down Watts with a late challenge to deny a blatant goalscoring opportunity. Much to the astonishment of all in attendance, the referee awarded a penalty instantly but brandished a yellow card only, to the Newport keeper. Needless to say Ovendale was very fortunate to get away so lightly.
ANDY FORBES stepped up to bury the spot kick to the left of goal. Although this had given Eastleigh the advantage, justice was certainly not evident in terms of the letter of the law as the goalkeeper surely should have seen red.
A fresh momentum swept around the Silverlake Stadium with Eastleigh now in full control. It took the home side just two minutes to double their lead with another quick fire attack. Again, Watts was involved in the move holding it up nicely for a rejuvenated Andy Forbes who found DANNY SMITH with a perfect cross. The skipper swept the ball home from close range with a neat finish and for a team that were the division’s lowest scorers; they certainly were not looking that way this evening.
Unfortunately for Eastleigh, the floodlights went out one after the other forcing the referee to temporarily stop the game, just when Eastleigh were in full swing in search of a third goal! This lead to an unforeseen delay of ten minutes and when play finally resumed both sides had to regroup and find their feet again.
An off ball incident from John Brough on Jamie Brown saw the Spitfires win a free kick in a good position. Watts’ shot bounced straight off the wall to Liam Green who lofted the ball to the back post to find Brown in acres of space. With the goal at his mercy, Brown failed to hit the target in what was a big miss.
As the half came to a close Newport saw a few chances come their way, but the solidity of the back four and assuredness of James Pullen, simply could not find a way through. The closest the visitors came was a shot by Kris Leek, whose effort whistled past the post.
Craig Hughes tested Pullen for the first time moments before the half time whistle, but it was the latter that came out on top with a brilliant parry to keep out the snapshot from point blank range.
HALF TIME – Eastleigh 2-0 Newport County
After a very productive half from Eastleigh gaining a comfortable lead and so quickly, it was Newport that struck back six minutes into the half. It was a slice of luck though as CRAIG WILLIAMS pounced on a deflected pass that bounced off Karim El-Salahi. Much to Eastleigh’s frustration, Williams appeared to have taken the ball round his marker using his hand before slotting past a helpless James Pullen to reduce the arrears. All manner of complaints were thrown at the officials, but the goal stood.
Angry, they may have been – but this did not in any way stop Eastleigh from playing the way they had done all game showing work rate all of the park, determination and most of all passion to not let the minor setback get them down.
Steve Watts was at the forefront of this. He truly is looking like a big player for us, now that he has regained his match fitness and sharpness he is looking like he can really make a big difference for us. Winning headers all night was one aspect of his game, but something Eastleigh fans have not seen so much as they have done in the last two games from him, is his closing down and ability to put defenders under pressure using his speed.
This very nearly resulted in Watts restoring Eastleigh’s two goal cushion as he sprinted across the pitch to shut down Brough, the Newport captain, to create an opening where he ran towards goal from the half way line but fired comfortably wide.
Ian Oliver was brought into the action just after the hour mark to replace Darren Wheeler who despite having a good game on Saturday, failed to really make a mark on this evening’s affairs.
The substitution looked to have changed things for the good, even if it happened solely by bringing a fresh impetus into the game. Liam Green fired narrowly past a post following a flowing move between Watts, Smith and Forbes - then the pressure did pay off.
Jamie Brown pulled the ball back to Danny Smith from the right hand side who found ANDY FORBES lurking in the penalty area with a pinpoint pass. Forbes, our goalscoring revelation, did what he does best with a sharp turn stroking the ball into the bottom corner for 3-1. At this point Eastleigh had effectively killed the game off.
From here, it was just a case of keeping cool heads defensively and holding on and this is precisely what Eastleigh did. Steve West and Karim El-Salahi in particular were unbelievably dominant in the air, backed up tremendously by the safe hands of James Pullen who seemed to thwart any ball into the box from Newport. The Eastleigh stopper made an instinctive reaction stop with his chest to keep out an effort from Williams and the stout defending continued.
With eight minutes remaining, a clear contender for man of the match, Steve Watts, was replaced by Carl Wilson-Denis. Within minutes of coming into the action, Wilson-Denis worked a few tricks and side steps over on the far side before getting the ball into the box. Ian Oliver reacted quickest to the loose ball but fired high and wide from a good position.
The final action of the game saw Newport’s Jason Bowen hopelessly clear the stand from a long distance shot, followed by Jamie Brown nodding an Oliver cross just wide.
A maximum of six points from our last two games is a remarkable achievement and the manner that we earned them, even more impressive. Long may this run continue, beginning with Thursday night’s Hampshire Senior Cup tie with Aldershot.
FULL TIME – Eastleigh 3-1 Newport County
JAMIE MONTIGUE
MONDAY 12th MARCH 2007
Conference South
So far so good, as Eastleigh pressed on with their busy schedule with a second comprehensive win in as many days. Yet another classy performance from the Spitfires saw them come out firing on all cylinders finding themselves two goals to the good in the blink of an eye, and just like they did in the Farnborough match at the weekend, they comfortably saw the game out.
The only change from the winning side, saw Liam Green replace the injured David Hughes in the centre of midfield.
Newport were panicking from the start with the excellent Steve Watts and Jamie Brown letting their presence be felt up the front, giving their opponents no time on the ball. The constant chasing down and pressure from the two Eastleigh forwards almost led to catastrophe in the third minute for Newport, as Stewart Edwards played across his own goal with his keeper missing the ball before it was eventually hacked away.
Scorer of Eastleigh’s third goal on Saturday, Steve Watts continued to impress and had a good couple of efforts inside the first five or so minutes. Firstly from a Darren Wheeler corner on the right. Watts’ header looked destined for goal but was deflected behind. Moments later, Jason Dodd’s side had the ball in the back of the net with a well worked move that saw Andy Forbes pick out Watts in the centre, who beat the keeper from 6 yards only to find the flag waving. It was for an earlier infringement involving Jamie Brown and the Eastleigh faithful had to hold back their celebrations for a brief while.
Andy Forbes, providing much needed width on the right hand side of midfield, curled an inch perfect cross to find a flying Watts, whose diving header brushed the side netting.
Despite all of this pressure and chances, it may have counted for nothing had the referee spotted a handball from Steve West in the penalty area at the opposite end. County’s Craig Hughes flicked the ball up against the Eastleigh centre half followed by a rupture of penalty shouts, all to no avail as the referee Colin Lymer missed the incident.
This is where Eastleigh’s fortune has been against them in the past, but the brief scare only inspired them on to better things. They were soon back into the positive attacking football and created a good opportunity in the fourteenth minute. Karim El-Salahi, a revelation for us since signing from Woking, took a quick glance up before whipping the ball out to Andy Forbes. Danny Smith then received it in the centre but scuffed his shot.
Then came the all-important early goal, a controversial moment also. Steve Watts cut out a short back pass with fantastic pace to flick past goalkeeper Mark Ovendale, the last man. Ovendale brought down Watts with a late challenge to deny a blatant goalscoring opportunity. Much to the astonishment of all in attendance, the referee awarded a penalty instantly but brandished a yellow card only, to the Newport keeper. Needless to say Ovendale was very fortunate to get away so lightly.
ANDY FORBES stepped up to bury the spot kick to the left of goal. Although this had given Eastleigh the advantage, justice was certainly not evident in terms of the letter of the law as the goalkeeper surely should have seen red.
A fresh momentum swept around the Silverlake Stadium with Eastleigh now in full control. It took the home side just two minutes to double their lead with another quick fire attack. Again, Watts was involved in the move holding it up nicely for a rejuvenated Andy Forbes who found DANNY SMITH with a perfect cross. The skipper swept the ball home from close range with a neat finish and for a team that were the division’s lowest scorers; they certainly were not looking that way this evening.
Unfortunately for Eastleigh, the floodlights went out one after the other forcing the referee to temporarily stop the game, just when Eastleigh were in full swing in search of a third goal! This lead to an unforeseen delay of ten minutes and when play finally resumed both sides had to regroup and find their feet again.
An off ball incident from John Brough on Jamie Brown saw the Spitfires win a free kick in a good position. Watts’ shot bounced straight off the wall to Liam Green who lofted the ball to the back post to find Brown in acres of space. With the goal at his mercy, Brown failed to hit the target in what was a big miss.
As the half came to a close Newport saw a few chances come their way, but the solidity of the back four and assuredness of James Pullen, simply could not find a way through. The closest the visitors came was a shot by Kris Leek, whose effort whistled past the post.
Craig Hughes tested Pullen for the first time moments before the half time whistle, but it was the latter that came out on top with a brilliant parry to keep out the snapshot from point blank range.
HALF TIME – Eastleigh 2-0 Newport County
After a very productive half from Eastleigh gaining a comfortable lead and so quickly, it was Newport that struck back six minutes into the half. It was a slice of luck though as CRAIG WILLIAMS pounced on a deflected pass that bounced off Karim El-Salahi. Much to Eastleigh’s frustration, Williams appeared to have taken the ball round his marker using his hand before slotting past a helpless James Pullen to reduce the arrears. All manner of complaints were thrown at the officials, but the goal stood.
Angry, they may have been – but this did not in any way stop Eastleigh from playing the way they had done all game showing work rate all of the park, determination and most of all passion to not let the minor setback get them down.
Steve Watts was at the forefront of this. He truly is looking like a big player for us, now that he has regained his match fitness and sharpness he is looking like he can really make a big difference for us. Winning headers all night was one aspect of his game, but something Eastleigh fans have not seen so much as they have done in the last two games from him, is his closing down and ability to put defenders under pressure using his speed.
This very nearly resulted in Watts restoring Eastleigh’s two goal cushion as he sprinted across the pitch to shut down Brough, the Newport captain, to create an opening where he ran towards goal from the half way line but fired comfortably wide.
Ian Oliver was brought into the action just after the hour mark to replace Darren Wheeler who despite having a good game on Saturday, failed to really make a mark on this evening’s affairs.
The substitution looked to have changed things for the good, even if it happened solely by bringing a fresh impetus into the game. Liam Green fired narrowly past a post following a flowing move between Watts, Smith and Forbes - then the pressure did pay off.
Jamie Brown pulled the ball back to Danny Smith from the right hand side who found ANDY FORBES lurking in the penalty area with a pinpoint pass. Forbes, our goalscoring revelation, did what he does best with a sharp turn stroking the ball into the bottom corner for 3-1. At this point Eastleigh had effectively killed the game off.
From here, it was just a case of keeping cool heads defensively and holding on and this is precisely what Eastleigh did. Steve West and Karim El-Salahi in particular were unbelievably dominant in the air, backed up tremendously by the safe hands of James Pullen who seemed to thwart any ball into the box from Newport. The Eastleigh stopper made an instinctive reaction stop with his chest to keep out an effort from Williams and the stout defending continued.
With eight minutes remaining, a clear contender for man of the match, Steve Watts, was replaced by Carl Wilson-Denis. Within minutes of coming into the action, Wilson-Denis worked a few tricks and side steps over on the far side before getting the ball into the box. Ian Oliver reacted quickest to the loose ball but fired high and wide from a good position.
The final action of the game saw Newport’s Jason Bowen hopelessly clear the stand from a long distance shot, followed by Jamie Brown nodding an Oliver cross just wide.
A maximum of six points from our last two games is a remarkable achievement and the manner that we earned them, even more impressive. Long may this run continue, beginning with Thursday night’s Hampshire Senior Cup tie with Aldershot.
FULL TIME – Eastleigh 3-1 Newport County
JAMIE MONTIGUE
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