Toomer on form in reserves win

Eastleigh 2nd XI 2-0 Metropolitan Police Res.
Suburban Premier League

TEAM: Fred Toomer, James Powell, Aaron Martin ©, Nick Lane, Adam Shepherd, Martin Thomas, Adam Wiltshire, Nick Watt, Arron Milburn, Scott Waters, Joe Maxwell

SUBS: Sam Doswell (on for Shepherd), Niall Bryant (on for Lane), Alex Easton (on for Maxwell)

Match Report by Jamie Montigue

On the back of Monday night's 4-1 win, when Paul Wiltshire and Wayne Mew's side was boosted by the presence of first team players such as David Hughes, Ashley Vickers and Gareth Howells, Eastleigh's second string were back at the Silverlake Stadium this afternoon taking on Metropolitan Police reserves.

In the seventh minute, Arron Milburn ran through the middle of the park unattended where he then spread the play wide to Scott Waters on his right. The striker let the ball run across his body before forcing a good save out of the keeper for a corner kick.

There were several knocks and injuries throughout the half adding to the injury time, the first of which, saw Eastleigh centre back Nick Lane in need of medical attention as he took a knock in the process of bringing down his marker and conceding a free kick.

The visitors' first chance saw their right winger get in behind Nick Watt but fire wide of goal in the twelfth minute.

At first glance it looked as though Eastleigh had taken the lead just past the opening quarter of an hour as Martin Thomas' free kick to the back post was headed back into the middle for Scott Waters to try his luck with a free header. The ball was pushed on to the cross bar and came back down, at which point the net bulged but this was most likely caused by the keeper who stumbled backwards, just managing to keep the ball out on the line.

Ten minutes later, Met. Police came close with a header from a corner, one that glanced across the face of goal before Eastleigh could clear their lines and start their own attack.

In the very next phase of play, at the opposite end of the pitch, Eastleigh helped themselves to the lead through a well-taken NICK WATT strike. Watt picked up the ball in the penalty area and made no mistake as he dragged the ball on to his right foot, picking his spot and planting a shot beyond the keeper and low into the corner of goal.

Immediately Eastleigh had another opportunity with a Thomas cross finding Waters in space who threw himself at the ball with a diving header and was unlucky to see his effort go comfortably wide of the target.

There was a further break in play as the skipper Aaron Martin and midfielder Adam Wiltshire collided, and, not long after, a Met. Police defender had to receive treatment for a cut to the eye.

The visitors had the better of the rest of the half, with good chances to pull level.

Two minutes after the half hour, the Met. Police number 8 blazed high over the cross bar picking up on the loose ball and hitting it first time from 20 yards out from Adam Shepherd's half clearance.

They had an even better chance when the same player played an excellent through ball for his striker who really should have done better with the flag staying down. Finding himself clean through on goal, one on one with Toomer, the number 9's shot ballooned up and over the cross bar.

In the last minute of normal time at the end of the first half, the Met. Police number 10 was through this time with only the keeper to beat though he found stiff opposition in the form of Toomer who stood tall and made a great save with his legs at the edge of his area.

The final action of the half in the last minute of injury time, saw Toomer keep Eastleigh in it once more with a superb reaction save. The referee ignored his assistant's flag and play continued with the ball coming across and the header from point blank range being kept out.

HALF TIME: Eastleigh Res. 1-0 Metropolitan Police Res.

Eastleigh were by far the slowest out of the blocks at the start of the second half but eventually picked themselves up.

Adam Wiltshire couldn't keep his shot down with around five minutes played but at least it was an attempt after a lot of pressure from the visitors early on.

Young Eastleigh stopper, Toomer continued his fine display showing a safe pair of hands once again to keep out a powerful attempt from the Met. Police winger, who had got past his marker before shooting from a tight angle out on the right.

Eastleigh made two changes midway through the half with defenders Sam Doswell and Niall Bryant coming on for Adam Shepherd and Nick Lane.

The Met. Police enjoyed a further good spell of possession and won four successive corner kicks at one stage keeping Eastleigh on the back foot as they sought out an equaliser.

Toomer tipped around his near post soon after, to keep his clean sheet in tact, whilst Eastleigh struggled to deal with another corner and made hard work of clearing the ball to safety.

Eastleigh's third and final substitution saw Alex Easton replace Joe Maxwell in attack.

Waters leaning back, failed to trouble the goalkeeper from the edge of the penalty box from Easton's knock down.

A Metropolitan Police free kick was arched around the wall effectively from 25 yards but Toomer used his hands well to pick up on the bounce in the closing stages.

The Spitfires youngsters added a second to double their lead out of nothing towards the end of the game. A superb diagonal, cross-field pass from Arron Milburn picked out Nick Watt on the far side to precision. Eastleigh's goal scorer from the first half, attacked the full back well before splitting the defence in two with a killer final pass to the back post for SCOTT WATERS to apply the finishing touch sliding home from 5 yards.

Watt almost added a third with virtually the last kick of the game as he curled one from range just past the far post.

FULL TIME: Eastleigh Res. 1-0 Metropolitan Police Res.