Hawk’s Hatchet Men Grounded

An away fixture at West Leigh Park against old adversaries Havant & Waterlooville always manages to have an extra dimension to an already competitive match, and tonight was no exception as the under achieving Hawks lead by Liam ‘I taught Roy Keane all he knows’ Daish witnessed X rated incidents, a sending off, a minuscule crowd, tight fisted officials and, most important of all a Weymouth win.

Weymouth kicked off up the slope with Giles, Tulley and Ashford on the bench, Havant enjoyed the initial flurries with the ball pumped out wide for the crosses to feed the heads of Taylor and Hambley, Weymouth on the other hand eased themselves into the game with Phillips playing up front and Whiteman playing just behind him in a 4-4-1-1 system.

Robinson showed his class with a teasing cross just beyond the reach of keeper Aaron Kerr and ultimately just in front of the charging Simon Browne on nine minutes.

The Hawks proved their aerial dominance in attack as on the quarter hour they won a free kick just outside of the area, from the resultant cross, Gareth Hall rose high at the far post but headed well over the diminutive stand, and minutes later from another free kick Matthews was floundering in no mans land as Jamie O’ Rourke sent the ball boy’s scurrying out to the car park to retrieve the inflated pigs bladder.

Alex Browne blocks James Taylor in last season’s clashFormer Bashley ‘star’ James Taylor was put into space, he raced goal wards but seemingly from nowhere captain Marvel appeared and blocked his goal bound shot.

The local Hampshire referee incensed the docile Dean on 29 minutes after he had awarded Havant a free kick; Deano disagreed with his decision quite vociferously and was booked for his troubles.

It was obvious that Weymouth’s tight marking was causing Havant problems as the home side played the ball along the half way line on numerous occasions waiting for a break.

A great move by the Terras just after the half hour saw Whiteman dummy his marker and push the ball out to Robinson on the right flank, his teasing cross to Rawlinson on the edge of the area was poorly met and easily gathered by Kerr.

Weymouth should have taken the lead after 32 minutes, Simon Browne had pushed up on the left flank, his far post cross was met by Robinson who from 15 yards hit a cracker of a dipping shot, the leaping Kerr managed to push the ball onto his cross bar, his efforts drew applause from both sets of fans.

Weymouth continued to give away free kicks on the edge of the area and from a 40 minute kick, James Taylor’s shot was well held by Matthews, but on 43 minutes Weymouth where not to be denied the lead, the re born messiah that is Dean looked up after winning a tackle and with his thirty yard pass sent Phillips up the right flank to the by line, his cross across the face of goal was met full on by Hutchinson at the far post who from 8 yards blasted the ball home. Weymouth’s contingent of supporters went mental.

As with Folkestone just three days earlier the Terras nearly surrendered their lead as soon as they had got it when Taylor broke free, and beat Matthews with his shot, but the ball cannoned off the inside of the post into the safe arms of the Weymouth glove man.

So at half time the score was:

Havant & Waterlooville 0 Weymouth 1

Havant had been subjected to a thorough tongue lashing in the interval and came out fighting, Phillips was the first to bear the brunt of the home sides play, a Hutchinson cross was bound for the gap toothed striker but all that he made contact with was Daish’s raised elbow, Mr. Bernard Smith waved away the Weymouth protests as the little legs of Weymouth’s physio raced to the aid of the stunned Phillips.

Lee Bradford was stretchered off on 53 minutes with his right knee in tatters and whilst he was be seen to by the Weymouth physio, Alex Browne was attended to by Havant’s physio Phil Ashwell on the other side of the park, he hobbled off with a pulled hamstring.

Geoff Butler shuffled his meagre deck and pushed on the outgoing Giles as a centre back with Tully playing in front of Kenway.

Weymouth with their backs against the wall fought for everything and played for the first time this season with REAL passion, Phillips playing like a man possessed set up Dean on the edge of the area, he twisted past his marker and let fly, his shot was finger tipped around the post by Kerr.

Dean in last season’s matchHavant were reduced to ten men just after the hour, Hambley was booked for the second time after an agricultural challenge on Dean.

The slightly built but growing in stature Whiteman jinked his way through flying tackles on 70 minutes, his shot lacked power and Kerr gathered.

Giles was monumental at the back; anything that moved near him was punted or headed up field.

The Terras had broken their hosts as they now commanded play, Robinson let fly on 80 minutes, only the acrobatic Hawks gloveman stopped the effervescent Curly from scoring as he pushed the ball out for a corner.

Weymouth continued to look for a second, and when no chance was on, the ball was taken to the corner flag to let the time run down much to the annoyance of the Havant faithful and the delight of the traveling Terras.

Mr. Bernard Smith allowed an extra 8 minutes of time added-on but to no avail, the Terras were in control and they were not going to let the points slip away, so at the final whistle the score remained:

Havant & Waterlooville 0 Weymouth 1

Travelling Supporters top Terra: The Whole Team

For seasoned old supporters this was just beautiful, to get one over on the strong arm tactics of Daish and his cronies was immensely satisfying, it was a pity that Havant’s smallest crowd ever for a Doc Martens premier fixture was there to witness it. Geoff Butler now has the problem of finding cover for Bradford and Browne, Bradders could call it a day whereas Alex could be out for 6 weeks.

Havant & Waterlooville
Kerr, Savage, Poate, Champion, Hall (Ferrett 46), Daish, Davis, Hambley, Howe, Taylor (Leworthy 87), O’Rourke.
Subs not used: Blake, Hale, May

Weymouth:
Jason Matthews, Mark Kenway, Simon Browne, Alex Browne (Chris Giles 59), Lee Bradford (Steve Tully 55),
Mark Rawlinson, Mark Robinson, Ian Hutchinson 1, Martin Barlow, Marc Whiteman, Lee Phillips.
Subs not used: Michael Sajic, Ryan Ashford
Goal: Hutchinson 43

Referee: Bernard Smith

Attendance: 346