Green's day, Watt a strike!

EASTLEIGH V BEDFORD TOWN
FRIDAY 23rd MARCH 2007

Conference South



Eastleigh continued their sublime home record with a win over lowly Bedford Town, only this time they kept a clean sheet as well.

It wasn't the most exciting of games, in fact it was the opposite, but the Spitfires' did exactly the job to get the right result. Liam Green was the star of the show, not only netting the opener but having a good all-round game, along with Steve Watts who capped the evening off with a wonder free kick.

The Eagles were always going to be in for a tough game. As the bottom club in the division to come to the Silverlake Stadium, against an in-form Spitfires side that are playing some of their best football to date.

In light of the defeat away to Welling last weekend, Jason Dodd reverted to the 4-4-2 formation that did his side proud in the recent home victories over Farnborough Town and Newport County, and it paid dividends. This change brought about a shuffle to the lineup with Rob Marshall, Ian Oliver and David Hughes coming out of the side with Francis Benali, Liam Green and Darren Wheeler all in the starting eleven.

With just half a minute of football played, Eastleigh got away lightly as Bedford pumped the ball forward to try and get their opponents on the back foot. Josh Sozzo helped the ball into the path of strike partner Ian Draycott who had a good chance deflected behind for a corner.

Surviving that brief scare, it was the Spitfires who took the lead, inside three minutes. A throw in from the right hand side saw Steve Watts and Jamie Brown exchange passes before the excellent Watts pulled the ball back for LIAM GREEN. The former Winchester City midfielder finished the move clinically with a crisp, sidefooted effort on his favoured left foot to beat the keeper and give Eastleigh that all important early advantage.

Unfortunately, the game became very physical from this point and as a result chances were few and far between. Tarkan Mustafa was just one of those on the receiving end of the nasty side of this encounter, as he felt the full force of an awful challenge by Michael Lyon, who inexplicably walked away unpunished.

Eastleigh’s next chance came from Danny Smith’s long free kick that was half cleared by Bedford but only as far as Steve West who fired goalwards to no success at first, with the Eagles’ rearguard standing their ground between West and the goal. The ball rebounded back out to West once more who launched an even better strike this time at Ian Brown’s goal that had tremendous power to produce a good stop.

Moments later, the home side began to show signs of being close to their best with a superbly crafted move, starting with Tarkan Mustafa’s cross from the right that was touched delicately into the path of the captain by Steve Watts. Danny Smith’s first time volley went wide of the mark however, as the Spitfires went in search of a second goal.

The game turned needlessly ugly with a little over half an hour played in the half. Childish, ‘handbags’ between a couple of players from either side led to both Francis Benali and Bedford’s Josh Sozzo picking up petty yellow cards, that could easily have been avoided. This was just the beginning of scuffles between these two particular individuals.

Bedford’s first attack in a long time saw Sozzo break free down the left to catch Eastleigh out of position, but as he neared goal and delivered to the far post, Darren Wheeler got back to clear the danger with a casual, yet effective, back heel.

Wheeler was then the subject of Eastleigh’s next attack on goal as Watts cleverly dummied to allow the pacy winger to run at goal. As the former Weymouth man burst into the area, the shot was deflected out of play for a throw in on the far side, but again demonstrating Eastleigh’s movement and purpose up the front.

Moments before the half time whistle, Benali and Sozzo squared up again in an off the ball incident before allegedly flaring up for a third time, in the tunnel as the players left the pitch. Clearly, silly things to do when already in the book.

HALF TIME – Eastleigh 1-0 Bedford Town

The second forty-five began with a flowing passing move from Eastleigh where Watts played the ball across the pitch for Benali. The ball was returned to Watts in the middle who laid if off nicely for Smith, however the shot was hit into the ground and didn’t trouble the keeper.

Forbes then lofted an effort high over the bar from a long drop kick flicked on by the hardworking Jamie Brown, as the early pressure in the second half continued with just the end product missing.

With a little over an hour played, there was just these two actions alone in a fifteen minute period - summing up how frustrating the game had become with the physicality’s taking precedence.

Andy Harris was introduced to the action to replace Darren Wheeler, which in turn saw Liam Green switch to the left of midfield to allow Harris a slot in the centre. Green, continued to work just as hard down the left winning headers, and tackles just as he had been doing whilst dominating in the middle of the park. His vision and deliveries were just as impressive much to the Eastleigh faithful’s delight.

Another ten minute period passed by with the only incident being a soft yellow card to Andy Harris for a 50/50 challenge, before excellent one touch football resulted in Brown trying to get his shot away only to be well shut down by the Bedford defence.

From here, the win began to look ominous for Eastleigh who came alive again, building up pressure before killing the game off. A dangerous corner from Green on the left saw Watts look to scramble the ball home. The Eagles survived though and then breathed a sigh of relief as Watts missed a glorious chance, the best of the half by a long shot. Danny Smith’s deep free kick found Watts in acres of space inside the six-yard box, but the Eastleigh striker could only nod wide.

With time running out, Eastleigh did stretch their lead to put the game beyond any doubt. STEVE WATTS was fouled ten yards outside the penalty area but managed to stay on his feet, becoming one on one with the goalkeeper. The referee pulled the play back though, which seemed like a strange decision when the advantage could have been enforced, in which case a goal would have probably been scored.

It did not matter in the slightest when Watts stepped up 35 yards out to hit a curling wonder strike into the top corner. The goal looked a long time coming and it really was worth the wait, just to see the ball nestle in the roof of the net with it’s perfect flight, power and curl.

This goal wrapping up the points for the Spitfires who, after enduring six whole minutes of stoppage time, left the stadium upbeat and buoyant of the result more than anything else.

FULL TIME – Eastleigh 2-0 Bedford Town

JAMIE MONTIGUE