Eastleigh 1-1 Eastbourne
EASTLEIGH V EASTBOURNE BOROUGH
WEDNESDAY 11th APRIL 2007
Conference South
Eastleigh continued their unbeaten run at the Silverlake Stadium this evening with a 1-1 draw with playoff hopefuls Eastbourne Borough.
The visitors have not lost a game for an incredible fourteen matches now, as they put up a good fight and took the lead in a somewhat lacklustre first half before the skipper Danny Smith netted an equaliser with a fine header twenty minutes from time.
The Spitfires welcomed back the famous centre half pairing of Rob Marshall and Chris Collins at the heart of defence for the first time since November, whilst Craig Richards was given his full debut at right back.
Steve West, David Hughes and Carl Wilson-Denis dropped to the bench and the other changes from the side that picked up a point against Havant on Easter Monday included starting places for Danny Smith and Darren Wheeler. Tarkan Mustafa and Andy Harris missed out completely whilst other first teamers, Karim El-Salahi, Francis Benali and Steve Forbes were still sidelined through injury.
It wasn’t until the seventh minute of the game that Eastleigh brought their first real goalmouth action to the encounter. Debutant, Richards’ long throw from the right hand side was met with a dipping header from Jamie Brown. There was not a lot of pace on it, but the keeper found the save an awkward one having to first pluck the ball out from underneath his own crossbar before palming over the top for a corner to clear the danger.
Borough’s first chance came six minutes later with Paul Armstrong’s free kick, headed goalwards by Allan Tait. There was no real threat however, and James Pullen picked the ball up with ease to make the save.
It was the visitors who took the advantage in the nineteenth minute through Pat Harding, a sloppy one to concede from the Spitfires’ point of view.
A corner ball from the right flank was never dealt with by the Eastleigh defence as it first struck Rob Marshall bouncing awkwardly into the path of Jamie Brown, who only half cleared under pressure. Scott Ramsay knocked the ball back into the six yard box where an unmarked PAT HARDING was on hand to turn the ball past Pullen to net the opener.
Eastbourne full back Jay Lovett almost instantaneously gave Jason Dodd’s side a way back into the match with a poor header, intended for his goalkeeper Lee Hook, but falling well short of the target instead allowing Steve Watts to burst on to the scene. Watts had a glorious opportunity from here, with just the keeper to beat but struck horrible wide of the mark from an excellent position.
The game became very frustrating for Eastleigh, who despite having a good number of attacks, it just didn’t look like it was going to happen for them and things didn’t quite fall into place as it had done in games previous such as Fisher Athletic, Farnborough Town and Newport County.
Nevertheless, the home side plucked away but to no avail.
A Liam Green corner sat up nicely for Darren Wheeler on the edge of the area who volleyed a low driven effort towards goal only to see the Eastbourne defence charge down well to block.
Perhaps, Eastleigh’s best chance of the half came from an excellent header by Andy Forbes. Jamie Brown grafted well and battled before being fouled to win a free kick in a good position, just to the right of the area. Danny Smith curled it in to find Forbes leaping at the back post who angled a powerful header down into the ground, up into the keeper’s hands before the ball was tipped around the post to prevent the equaliser.
Ending the half strongly, an error from Lee Hook presented Eastleigh with another opportunity to get back into the match. Liam Green’s deep free kick, missed completely by the Eastbourne goalkeeper, with his defender sweeping up behind only able to stab the ball away temporarily as far as Chris Collins, eight yards from goal who fired harmlessly over the cross bar with his weaker left foot.
One of the first real passing moves of the game came five minutes from half time that saw four Eastleigh shirts link together in one good move that deserved a better outcome. Oliver’s throw in from the left hand side was held up well by Watts before the skipper Danny Smith took charge in the move to tee up Jamie Brown whose speculative chipped effort sailed wide of goal.
Counter attacking, Eastbourne forced only their second save out of Pullen as Tait brought the ball forward before poking wide to the goalscorer Pat Harding. Harding got the ball on to his left foot before directing a low drive from 25 yards, heading towards the bottom corner, as Pullen scrambled across goal conceding a corner kick.
Danny Smith nodded inches wide from another Craig Richards long throw that was helped on expertly by the hardworking Brown. Before, on the stroke of half time, Watts flicked the ball on in search of his strike partner Jamie Brown who collided nastily with Hook the goalkeeper.
HALF TIME – Eastleigh 0-1 Eastbourne Borough
Just to demonstrate how luck seemed to be against Eastleigh, the referee awarded a free kick in the opposite direction as Smith was clearly fouled yards outside the box.
Then, minutes later, Green charged down the goalkeeper with the ball going out for a throw in. On any other occasion it would probably have bounced back over the keeper and into the net for one of those scrappy, calamitous goals we all see every once in a while. Not this time though, Eastleigh having to really dig deep to find a goal despite all of their pressure, which of course showed for nothing at this stage.
It took all of ten minutes before either side had an attempt on goal in the second period. Darren Wheeler who won the corner following good wing play down the left, floated the ball to the back stick where Rob Marshall flew at the ball with an ambitious diving header, that, in the end failed to trouble or threaten.
WEDNESDAY 11th APRIL 2007
Conference South
Eastleigh continued their unbeaten run at the Silverlake Stadium this evening with a 1-1 draw with playoff hopefuls Eastbourne Borough.
The visitors have not lost a game for an incredible fourteen matches now, as they put up a good fight and took the lead in a somewhat lacklustre first half before the skipper Danny Smith netted an equaliser with a fine header twenty minutes from time.
The Spitfires welcomed back the famous centre half pairing of Rob Marshall and Chris Collins at the heart of defence for the first time since November, whilst Craig Richards was given his full debut at right back.
Steve West, David Hughes and Carl Wilson-Denis dropped to the bench and the other changes from the side that picked up a point against Havant on Easter Monday included starting places for Danny Smith and Darren Wheeler. Tarkan Mustafa and Andy Harris missed out completely whilst other first teamers, Karim El-Salahi, Francis Benali and Steve Forbes were still sidelined through injury.
It wasn’t until the seventh minute of the game that Eastleigh brought their first real goalmouth action to the encounter. Debutant, Richards’ long throw from the right hand side was met with a dipping header from Jamie Brown. There was not a lot of pace on it, but the keeper found the save an awkward one having to first pluck the ball out from underneath his own crossbar before palming over the top for a corner to clear the danger.
Borough’s first chance came six minutes later with Paul Armstrong’s free kick, headed goalwards by Allan Tait. There was no real threat however, and James Pullen picked the ball up with ease to make the save.
It was the visitors who took the advantage in the nineteenth minute through Pat Harding, a sloppy one to concede from the Spitfires’ point of view.
A corner ball from the right flank was never dealt with by the Eastleigh defence as it first struck Rob Marshall bouncing awkwardly into the path of Jamie Brown, who only half cleared under pressure. Scott Ramsay knocked the ball back into the six yard box where an unmarked PAT HARDING was on hand to turn the ball past Pullen to net the opener.
Eastbourne full back Jay Lovett almost instantaneously gave Jason Dodd’s side a way back into the match with a poor header, intended for his goalkeeper Lee Hook, but falling well short of the target instead allowing Steve Watts to burst on to the scene. Watts had a glorious opportunity from here, with just the keeper to beat but struck horrible wide of the mark from an excellent position.
The game became very frustrating for Eastleigh, who despite having a good number of attacks, it just didn’t look like it was going to happen for them and things didn’t quite fall into place as it had done in games previous such as Fisher Athletic, Farnborough Town and Newport County.
Nevertheless, the home side plucked away but to no avail.
A Liam Green corner sat up nicely for Darren Wheeler on the edge of the area who volleyed a low driven effort towards goal only to see the Eastbourne defence charge down well to block.
Perhaps, Eastleigh’s best chance of the half came from an excellent header by Andy Forbes. Jamie Brown grafted well and battled before being fouled to win a free kick in a good position, just to the right of the area. Danny Smith curled it in to find Forbes leaping at the back post who angled a powerful header down into the ground, up into the keeper’s hands before the ball was tipped around the post to prevent the equaliser.
Ending the half strongly, an error from Lee Hook presented Eastleigh with another opportunity to get back into the match. Liam Green’s deep free kick, missed completely by the Eastbourne goalkeeper, with his defender sweeping up behind only able to stab the ball away temporarily as far as Chris Collins, eight yards from goal who fired harmlessly over the cross bar with his weaker left foot.
One of the first real passing moves of the game came five minutes from half time that saw four Eastleigh shirts link together in one good move that deserved a better outcome. Oliver’s throw in from the left hand side was held up well by Watts before the skipper Danny Smith took charge in the move to tee up Jamie Brown whose speculative chipped effort sailed wide of goal.
Counter attacking, Eastbourne forced only their second save out of Pullen as Tait brought the ball forward before poking wide to the goalscorer Pat Harding. Harding got the ball on to his left foot before directing a low drive from 25 yards, heading towards the bottom corner, as Pullen scrambled across goal conceding a corner kick.
Danny Smith nodded inches wide from another Craig Richards long throw that was helped on expertly by the hardworking Brown. Before, on the stroke of half time, Watts flicked the ball on in search of his strike partner Jamie Brown who collided nastily with Hook the goalkeeper.
HALF TIME – Eastleigh 0-1 Eastbourne Borough
Just to demonstrate how luck seemed to be against Eastleigh, the referee awarded a free kick in the opposite direction as Smith was clearly fouled yards outside the box.
Then, minutes later, Green charged down the goalkeeper with the ball going out for a throw in. On any other occasion it would probably have bounced back over the keeper and into the net for one of those scrappy, calamitous goals we all see every once in a while. Not this time though, Eastleigh having to really dig deep to find a goal despite all of their pressure, which of course showed for nothing at this stage.
It took all of ten minutes before either side had an attempt on goal in the second period. Darren Wheeler who won the corner following good wing play down the left, floated the ball to the back stick where Rob Marshall flew at the ball with an ambitious diving header, that, in the end failed to trouble or threaten.
On the hour, the Spitfires were still looking to make their mark on the game with Andy Forbes forcing a corner with his drive from distance taking a deflection. Darren Wheeler met the corner in the centre with a volley on the turn that looped up to provide Hook an easy catch.
David Hughes was introduced to the action at the expense of Wheeler in the sixty-fourth minute as Dodd looked to change his shape slightly in order to change his fortune.
For all of their dominance, things still were not happening in the final third for the Spitfires until an extended spell of pressure and possession saw the resilient Eastbourne finally crumble and concede.
Forbes hit a shot on the turn that bounced all the way back out to Ian Oliver who struck a good cross to the back post to pick out Forbes once more. A terrific header from the in-form forward from the right into the centre, found the captain in front of goal, who made no mistake with the finish.
DANNY SMITH latched on to the perfect nod with an equally impressive header to fire Eastleigh’s equaliser into the top right hand corner with a perfectly placed, powerful, aerial effort.
The remainder of the game was always going to be tight, but Eastleigh took the upper hand and looked the more likely to grab a winner out of the two sides.
Dodd used his remaining substitutions with Watts and Brown making way for Carl Wilson-Denis and Steve West. The pair used as direct replacements to lead the line.
With time running out, Eastbourne came within a whisker of snatching the points when a clever pass from Armstrong found Pat Harding on the overlap inside the penalty area and behind the defence. Pullen was left helpless as his defence was undone by one ball, though the big man stood up well to get a crucial touch on it to thwart the danger.
Coming to an end, Eastleigh had the very last opportunity to grab all three points having done ever so well to fight back in the first place from being a goal down. Right at the death, Forbes won a free kick just yards outside the penalty area. Both Steve West and Liam Green stood over it, this the last chance to grab a goal with time running down.
West stepped up but wastefully, fired straight at the wall. Oliver followed up to deliver the ball back in for Forbes who chested down expertly before drilling the ball. Amid desperate appeals for handball, the game had reached its climax and in the end a draw was a fair result.
FULL TIME – Eastleigh 1-1 Eastbourne Borough
JAMIE MONTIGUE
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