Hawks steal fortunate cup win in injury time over tireless, ten man Eastleigh

EASTLEIGH v HAVANT & WATERLOOVILLE

TUESDAY 7th OCTOBER 2008
Setanta Shield Round 2

By Jamie Montigue

In this Setanta Shield 2nd Round tie the Spitfires took on local rivals Havant and Waterlooville in an exciting cup encounter that was made all the more important by the money at stake for tonight's winners.

An eventful first half started in the worst possible manner for the hosts as Ian Baird's side, against his former club, were reduced to ten men.

With just six minutes on the clock, Andy Harris went in for a 50:50 challenge with Brett Poate not far from the half way line.

Poate went to ground hobbling about under the heavy but fair challenge, with the Eastleigh skipper playing the ball right under the noses of the Havant dugout as manager Shaun Gale and the rest of the dugout influenced the referee by waving their arms about making the challenge out to be worse than it was.

Out came a straight red card for the extremely hard done by Harris, and Eastleigh were now down to ten men.

Not the start that Baird had been planning on. He now had to readjust tactics and his approach to the game in it's entirety.

Despite the numerical disadvantage, the Spitfires had the better of the chances and most impressively played the better football.

In the fourteenth minute, Peter Adeniyi rolled the ball across to former Hawk Tony Taggart, whose shot from 35 yards flew wide of the upright.

Three minutes later, Adeniyi forced a corner as his attempt was deflected behind by Ian Simpemba.

James Baker came within a whisker with a brilliant effort that dipped narrowly over the cross bar, and at this point it would have been difficult to tell which side were playing with a man down.

It wasn't until almost half an hour of football that Havant & Waterlooville threatened. A teasing cross from the right flank flew across the six yard box where the delivery only just evaded Luke Nightingale who was sliding in.

The ball came out to the left flank where Poate whipped in another cross. This time however, Jason Matthews punched the ball clear ahead of an oncoming attacker.

Much of Eastleigh's hard work was marred by the opening goal of the game, which broke the dead lock in the 37th minute. A Havant corner kick from the far side found JAY GASSON who was in plenty of space around twenty yards out. The full back executed a well-timed volley that appeared to take a headed deflection past Matthews in a crowded six-yard box off an Eastleigh defender to give the visitors the lead.

Eastleigh hit back with an instant reply through JAMES BAKER. Taggart was the architect with tremendous wing play to make room for the cross and then deliver the inch perfect ball for Baker to rise well and head home from close range. A great equalising goal and fully deserved too.

Before the break Taggart continued to torment his former employers as he cut inside from a swift, counter-attacking Eastleigh move before firing towards goal. The ball struck Simpemba on it's way through to the goalkeeper Kevin Scriven.

The last of an all-action first half saw an audacious chip from deep by Jay Smith very nearly catch Matthews out. The ex-Weymouth stopper had to back pedal before catching underneath his cross bar.

HALF TIME: Eastleigh 1-1 Havant & Waterlooville

The Spitfires forced an early corner inside the opening two minutes as Jason Matthews' long drop kick resulted in Adeniyi having a shot turned behind.

From the resulting set piece, MATT BODKIN scored what can only be described as a freak goal as he scored directly from the corner kick to give Eastleigh the lead for the first time in the game, much to the delight of the home support.

On the hour mark, Byles gave away a free kick to the left of goal, though Matthews need not worry as Matt Gray's shot cleared the stand!

Bizarrely the referee went to the ground in need of medical attention, something which is not seen all too often, and play was interrupted momentarily.

Eastleigh's first change saw David Hughes replace Bodkin in the 65th minute, as Baird started thinking more defensively-minded to try and hold on to the lead.

Jamie Slabber, who had come on as a second half substitute for the Hawks, nipped in on a stray pass that fell short of Matthews and lifted the ball over the keeper coming close to Havant finding a way back into the game. A corner was given and Trevor Challis cleared the danger well with a powerful header.

With the game coming to a close, Eastleigh were beginning to come under a lot of pressure as Havant threw their everything forward in search of a goal.

For the most part the Spitfires held their own with Tom Jordan keeping things in order, ably supported by both Byles and Challis.

Other than a glancing header from Danny Webb, Matthews had little to do in the final ten minutes.

Eastleigh's final two substitutions saw Andy Forbes come on for Matt Groves and Tony Taggart make way for Neil Davies.

Having held the lead since early on in the second half, Eastleigh eventually caved in as Havant were thrown a lifeline of six minutes of injury time, and they took full advantage netting the equaliser and winning goal past the normal 90 minutes.

Giving a way a needless free kick on the far side, the Spitfires were made to pay. GARY HOLLOWAY scrambled the ball over the line in a chaotic penalty area to level things up before Havant wrapped up a late comeback with a last minute penalty.

Byles appeared to push Webb in the back in the penalty area, and JAMIE COLLINS made no mistake with a powerful spot kick into the corner.

Nobody can fault the efforts of the Eastleigh performance as every single player gave their all and did their very best, it was just a shame that decisions went against us on the night which greatly contributed to Havant progressing to the next round and Eastleigh missing out.

FULL TIME: Eastleigh 2-3 Havant & Waterlooville