Lovely Bubb-ly - Hat trick hero sinks Sutton

EASTLEIGH 4-0 SUTTON UNITED

SATURDAY 28th JANUARY 2012
Blue Square Bet South

Match report by Jamie Montigue

Eastleigh brushed past Sutton United with a finishing master class from outstanding hat trick hero Bradley Bubb.

The on-loan striker from Aldershot Town was in lethal form in front of goal in a man of the match winning display with three clinical finishes firing Ian Baird's Spitfires into a 3-0 lead.

Damian Scannell rounded off a convincing and dominant win for Eastleigh by scoring a fourth goal eight minutes from time.

Baird made just one change to the side that drew with Salisbury City on Tuesday night. Jamie Slabber returned from injury to make the starting eleven in place of Jamie Brown.

The visitors, managed by former Eastleigh boss Paul Doswell, made a bright start to the game and looked to be the better side in the opening stages of the first half, but the Spitfires went on to control the second half comfortably as shown by the full time score.

Sutton’s Joel Ledgister had the first shot of the match in the fourth minute but failed to beat the safe hands of Jack Dovey in the Eastleigh goal from 12 yards. Craig Watkins then found space down the right hand side and slipped the ball into the penalty area where Harry Beautyman’s touch got the better of him as an early chance passed by.

Beautyman crossed for Ledgister in the fifth minute where the ball ricocheted off the knee of the Sutton forward and flew wide of goal.

Eastleigh were forced into an early change when Philip Appiah tweaked his hamstring inside the opening ten minutes. Danny Smith proved to be an able, like-for-like replacement as he came into the midfield and got on with his job in breaking up the play.

In the 12th minute, Bradley Bubb looked to find his strike partner Jamie Slabber in the centre with a low ball into the box. Were it not for a last ditch intervention from Sutton United to hook the ball clear, there could have been danger for the visitors and an opportunity at goal for Eastleigh.

Mitchell Nelson tried his luck with a speculative shot to the right of goal from outside the penalty area but Kevin Scriven was more than a match to the attempt as the goalkeeper got behind the ball.

Eastleigh’s first attacking threat came in the 16th minute when Damian Scannell forced a good save out of Scriven at his near post. Tom Jordan flicked a free kick into Scannell’s path who let fly with a strong shot that had to be pushed away.

Midway through the half Daryl McMahon’s neat footwork and cross from the right found Bradley Bubb in the middle. Bubb brought the ball down well on the chest before acrobatically firing just over the top from 10 yards.

Sutton’s Beautyman saw a curling effort saved by Dovey before popular ex-Eastleigh midfielder and current U’s captain Anthony Riviere, had the opportunity of a strike at goal but couldn’t keep his shot down.

The deadlock was broken in the 32nd minute when the front two of Slabber and BRADLEY BUBB combined to great effect. Slabber’s headed flick into Bubb’s path saw Bradley in on goal beyond the defence. The lively striker made no mistake with a confident finish to slip the ball past Scriven to find the bottom right hand corner and net his first goal for Eastleigh.

Veteran former Southampton, Coventry and Celtic defender Paul Telfer was playing at centre half for Sutton United and it was his quick free kick that found Watkins free in the Eastleigh penalty area ten minutes before the break. Watkins took the shot early on the turn where the reliable Jack Dovey dived low to his left to tip the ball around the post.

The last of the first half action saw McMahon and Bubb involved in an attacking Eastleigh move before finding Slabber whose shot was charged down well.

It was Eastleigh who held a 1-0 lead at the break in a fairly even first half thanks to a clinical finish from Bubb.

HALF TIME: Eastleigh 1-0 Sutton United

Craig Watkins saw a header saved by Jack Dovey a minute into the second half following a cross from Harry Beautyman.

Eastleigh doubled their lead in the 50th minute to give themselves some breathing space and it was BRADLEY BUBB once again with the finish to score his and Eastleigh’s second of the game. Damian Scannell was involved in assisting Bubb’s second; as the winger went on a run down the right and his cross fell to the feet of Bubb who duly despatched the ball past Scriven with a classy lofted finish.

It was a good time to score early in the second half and provided Ian Baird’s side with the platform to build, which they did by going on to dominate and kill off the game with two further goals.

Before that however, Sutton United came close to pulling a goal back in the 55th minute when Anthony Riviere’s skilful chip had Dovey beaten and was heading for goal only for Michael Green to make an excellent goal line clearance to keep the clean sheet in tact. Green stayed alert to block the follow up shot as Eastleigh soaked up a moments pressure from the visitors.

The hosts went 3-0 ahead just past the hour mark as BRADLEY BUBB completed his hat trick. Bubb worked well up front and his all round display was positive but most impressive was how well the striker took each chance that came his way. As the ball came in from Daryl McMahon to find Bubb one on one with the keeper, there was only going to be one outcome and so it proved as Bubb provided yet another fine finish.

Bubb then set up Danny Smith who charged into the Sutton penalty area only to be denied by Scriven inside the six-yard box at his near post in the 66th minute.

Eastleigh’s second change of the afternoon saw Jamie Brown replace Jamie Slabber in attack. It was great to see Slabber back in action and to get a good 70 minutes out of our talisman. Brown typically got straight into the thick of things and led the line well with passion and commitment that we have so often seen from the target man.

Graeme Montgomery, who came off the bench in midweek to equalise and earn a point against Salisbury, was introduced in the 80th minute as Eastleigh’s third and final substitute to replace the prolific Bubb, who was suffering from cramp. Bubb came off to a rapturous round of applause and rightly so.

As Leroy Griffiths spurned a chance for Sutton towards the end of the game, Eastleigh went up the other end of the pitch and demonstrated how it should be done with a fourth and final goal to complete the rout.

Jamie Brown’s part in the goal should not be played down as he held the ball up terrifically on the left before allowing McMahon to take over and cross from the byline. DAMIAN SCANNELL was on hand to fire past Scriven with a measured side-foot shot into the far corner.

Andy Forbes had a header saved in the closing stages from a Scannell cross and Montgomery saw a shot from distance fly wide of the target as Eastleigh comfortably saw out the game to claim a well earned clean sheet as well as proving so productive in their finishing.

A fantastic result and strong all round display across the pitch from Eastleigh. The work in progress is coming together nicely as the new players are slotting in and gelling with their new team mates.

Eastleigh are now unbeaten in nine home league games in a run which stretches back to September.

Talk of reaching the play-offs isn’t something we were expecting to be doing at the start of the season, but now there is an outside chance of making them with the strong squad that the investment of Bridle Insurance has helped Baird to assemble. Whether we make them or not this year remains to be seen but what we are starting to see is the potential in this squad to mount a serious promotion charge next year.

FULL TIME: Eastleigh 4-0 Sutton United

Sutton United - 280112