Reserves draw a goalless blank

Eastleigh 2nd XI 0-0 Burnham Res.

Suburban Premier League

TEAM: Fred Toomer, Sam Longman, Niall Bryant, Jason Sangha, Adam Shepherd, Adam Wiltshire, Joe Sheppard, Ben White, Joe Maxwell, Aaron Milburn, Scott Waters

SUBS: James Screen (on for White 57), Les Wallace (on for Milburn 67), Keelan Sainsbury (on for Sheppard)

Match Report by Jamie Montigue

Starting out with a 4-3-3 formation with the in-form Joe Maxwell, Aaron Milburn and Scott Waters in attack, Eastleigh's second XI took a long time to get going this afternoon and were second best for the first twenty minutes.

It wasn't until the 32nd minute that the hosts conjured up their best move of the half with Milburn flicking the ball through for Waters who turned just wide of goal following a long kick up the park by goalkeeper Freddie Toomer.

There were signs enough from this point that the strong attacking force of Eastleigh would come to something with a couple of examples of neat interchange, though unfortuntely lacking the final product.

HALF TIME: Eastleigh 2nd XI 0-0 Burnham Res.

The second half saw the game come to life with the visitors striking the woodwork with a chipped cross in the opening stages.

Sam Longman was dismissed for a second yellow card just ten minutes in forcing the Spitfires to see the game out with ten men. As so often can be the case, the ten men of Eastleigh looked so much the better for it despite being numerically unadvantaged and from this point on it looked as though there would only be one winner.

Shortly after the hour mark the Burnham goalkeeper and captain, bravely denied Milburn from close range from a James Screen corner to keep the deadlock in tact.

Twenty minutes from time centre half Jason Sangha played an excellent ball down the line to pick out Joe Maxwell who lobbed the goalkeeper beautifully with an audacious chip only to see his shot clip the frame of the goal. This was the closest Eastleigh had come thus far and were very unfortunate not to be in front.

Five minutes later Maxwell came extremely close once more. This time James Screen played the ball in for Joe who hit it sweetly with his left foot but the shot flew narrowly over. Surely the luck was about to change sooner rather than later?

The onslaught continued with Scott Waters not too far away from goal with a shot from the right hand side, when a rare attack from Burnham resulted in a free kick high up the park and the ball floating onto the cross bar and safely behind for a goal kick.

Back at the opposite end, it was Eastleigh's turn to be denied by the woodwork, not for the first time in the game. James Screen's corner on the far side was a perfect inswinging delivery and almost went in direct from the flag kick and would have were it two inches lower.

In the closing stages of the game Maxwell had a good chance to steal a deserved winner but fired wide, the chance falling on his weaker foot. Then in injury time, Scott Waters' excellent pull back for Maxwell was thwarted by the goalkeeper at point blank range.

FULL TIME: Eastleigh 2nd XI 0-0 Burnham Res.