Eastleigh end Havant hoodoo in famous win over rivals

EASTLEIGH v HAVANT & WATERLOOVILLE
 

 

SATURDAY 29th NOVEMBER 2008
Blue Square South

Report by Jamie Montigue
Eastleigh finally broke their Havant & Waterlooville hoodoo with a fine performance over their rivals in this local derby.

Ian Baird stuck with the same side that won their second successive win away from home in the league against Team Bath in midweek against his former charges.

The hosts exerted the early pressure with one of several former Hawks in the Eastleigh line up, Tony Taggart drilling a free kick straight at the wall as Anthony Riviere won a free kick just seconds into the game.

Several corners followed for the Spitfires as they threatened to find an early goal and make use of their pressure in the opening stages.

Top goalscorer Andy Forbes, who put in a man of the match winning performance at Team Bath in the last game where he showed great versatility in doing a fine job at centre half, continued where he left off alongside Tom Jordan who together formed a formidable defensive partnership at the heart of the defence.

In the fourth minute of the game Forbes came close from a Taggart delivery but fired just over the bar with the Hawks on the back foot early doors. Meanwhile Jay Gasson at the opposite end, forced a comfortable save out of Jason Matthews with a half volley moments later.

Peter Adeniyi worked the ball nicely down the left hand side and made room to play the ball into the feet of Matt Groves. The striker backed into his marker and laid the ball off to Taggart who fired low and hard, but the effort was just off target.

Too often the referee failed to let the game flow as he persistently stopped the game for anything and everything, which sadly dampened the encounter somewhat as a spectacle. The stop-start approach that the match official consistently took, saw both sides have more than their fair share of set pieces throughout the game.

On a quarter of an hour, an in-swinging corner from Taggart saw Havant goalkeeper Kevin Scriven punch the ball into the air where it dropped dangerously in front of goal, only for the man with the gloves to recover quickly.

Four minutes later, a decent ball in from the right by Steve Clark saw Tom Jordan show great skills for a towering defender when up for a set piece as he back-heeled the ball into the penalty area in behind the Havant defence where it so nearly fell for Jamie Brown.

Shaun Gale's side had their best opportunity of the game when former Spitfire and on-loan Salisbury City striker Robbie Matthews glance a header towards goal only to be thwarted by the sublime reactions of namesake Jason Matthews, who was quick to tip the ball over the cross bar to keep the ball out from point blank range.

Just two minutes shy of half an hour played, Brown stole in at the far post and was very unfortunate to see his header come back off the cross bar as he connected with a Taggart cross before Eastleigh broke the deadlock in the 38th minute.

The opening goal of the game came from ANTHONY RIVIERE who rounded off a well-worked move that saw Taggart's looping cross to the far post headed back across goal and into the danger zone by Peter Adeniyi. Riviere turned the ball home for his seventh goal of the season to give Eastleigh a well-earned lead at the break.

Havant & Waterlooville had one final chance at the end of the first half when Eastleigh skipper Andy Harris tripped Paul Booth just outside the penalty area to the left of goal. Gary Holloway went for goal but couldn't quite execute it as well as he would have liked as the ball flew harmlessly high and wide.

HALF TIME: Eastleigh 1–0 Havant & Waterlooville

Into the second half, conditions worsened with the bitter cold turning to a heavy downpour of rain.

Eastleigh showed no let up with their strongest defensive display of the season as Havant tried unsuccessfully to find a way back into the match.

Both Paul Booth and Luke Nightingale were kept out in the 55th minute when a downward header from Robbie Matthews was comfortably dealt with by the impenetrable Spitfires back line who offered solid protection to their goalkeeper Jason Matthews, who was very rarely troubled as a result.

A couple of corners followed for the visitors, but again Havant were restricted. The best they could muster was an outrageous acrobatic, overhead attempt from centre back Gary Elphick from 20 yards that was watched safely well wide of the post.

Again the game stopped unnecessarily too often, however Eastleigh stuck to their game plan and kept plugging away.

The first change of the game saw Charlie Henry inject a bit of liveliness and pace to Gale's out of sorts Havant side though Eastleigh were in such good form all across the park that they were able to hold their own and keep hold of their slender lead.

Firstly in the 70th minute Henry saw his swerving free kick from range fumbled by Jason Matthews initially though the Eastleigh number one made amends in clutching the ball quickly at the second attempt.

Five minutes later Henry's second free kick was off target before the Spitfires wrapped up the win seven minutes from time.

It was like Christmas had come early this year for Ian Baird and Matt Gray and everyone involved with the club as second half substitute MATT BODKIN raced through to ensure victory. Peter Adeniyi won back possession in the middle of the park before slipping a fine through ball down the touchline. Bodkin had too much pace and left his opponent in his wake as the winger latched on to the pass and placed a low shot across Scriven and into the bottom corner.

The celebrations were enough to show anyone just what the goal meant to the club with the Silverlake Stadium erupting in joy at the realisation that Eastleigh had finally triumphed over their 'bogey' side.

Not even the five minutes of injury time added on could stop the home fans singing and dancing right to the final whistle, as they showed tremendous support from start to finish.

The sour memories of last month's Setanta Shield exit at the hands of Havant were long gone. As we know today's visitors came from behind with two goals in injury time the last time the two sides met, but there was no such luck this time around.

Andy Forbes was in truly inspired form at the back showing just as much quality as a defender as he does as a striker banging in the goals. No doubt this will be a pleasant dilemma for Baird as to whether he keeps him at the back where he wins literally everything in the air or put him back up front to make use of his undoubted prowess in front of goal.

Either way, this was a tremendous win all round in a very spirited and determined performance from the lads in what was Eastleigh's third successive league win and only their third clean sheet of the season (their first since August).

Eastleigh have now climbed their way to third in the table after this historic result and who knows where the rest of the season will take them. Whatever happens this is a new high point for the club after all of the cup woes, and the club will now go into Tuesday's nights trip to AFC Wimbledon in buoyant mood.

FULL TIME: Eastleigh 2-0 Havant & Waterlooville