Christchurch had never beaten the Hammers before today’s game and for the first twenty five minutes of this game another United win looked on the cards. Then suddenly everything that could go wrong went wrong starting with a sloppy Christchurch equaliser.
Hamworthy opened the stronger of the two teams and soon took an early lead through Jack Swann scoring after only six minutes. A run and shot by Ryan Dovell saw the Christchurch Keeper fail to hold the ball, and this left the Hammer’s striker who had followed up a simple tap in to score. Hamworthy continued to have the better of things restricting Christchurch to the odd breakaway, and from one of these they gained a corner from which they equalised. Hamworthy United defence who normally defend well from set pieces on this occasion were found wanting. The cross was met by a looping header that bounced back into play off the crossbar. Steve Gilbert’s attempted headed clearance also bounced on the cross bar before dropping back for Mark Burrows to equalise with a simple header. The goal lifted the Christchurch team, and play was a lot more even after that with the score remaining at 1-1 at the break.
Jack Swann failed to make it back onto the field after the restart following a first half injury, and was replaced by Ryan Middleton. Christchurch were now playing with a lot more confidence and were unlucky not to have taken the lead when they hit a great strike that struck  the underside of the bar, with Martin Peters well beaten. The Visitors were now on top and they took the lead after a quick break found Paul Rideout unmarked on the edge of the box. The Christchurch man took full advantage of the time allowed to bury his shot past Martin Peters and take the lead. Hamworthy’s luck got worse when Warren Byerley also limped off injured leaving the Hammers with no recognised striker, and having to make positional changes to compensate. United were left with only nine players on the field when two players were shown red cards as frustration and lack of composure led to their dismissal shortly before the end.  First Nathan Walker walked for a second yellow following a tussle to recover the ball from an opposing player, and then fellow central defender Steve Gilbert was sent off for swearing.

Team:  M. Peters, M. Hubbard, M. Grimason, S. Gilbert. N. Walker, C. Mutch, S. Legg ( B. Williams), R. Dovell, J. Swann (R.Middleton), W. Byerley (G. Horlock), R. Jackson.

SYDENHAMS WESSEX LEAGUE CUP (ROUND 2)

Hamworthy had no trouble in going through to the next round following a one sided game against a team from the bottom half of the Wessex League First Division. Heavy rain stopped just before the start of play, and this was followed by a thick ground mist which at one point threatened to stop the game, but later lifted and allowed play to continue.

Stockbridge battled well for the first thirty minutes of the game, but never threatened up front and were having to defend for most of that time getting bodies behind the ball, and closing down quickly. The Hammers eventually opened the scoring on the half hour with a goal from whom else, but Nathan Walker. A Micky Hubbard corner was met by a bullet header from the Hammer’s Captain that gave the Stockbridge keeper no chance. Jack Swann had a goal bound twenty yard shot tipped over the bar for a corner from which United scored a second. The goal was a repeat of the first with Nathan Walker again powering home his header from Micky Hubbard’s cross. Steve Legg brought a good save from the keeper with a twenty yard drive, but the score remained at 2-0 at the break despite further near misses by the Hammers.

The second half started with a heavy mist across the pitch making visibility very difficult. The next two goals came under these conditions, and were not easy to see from the sidelines. Warren Byerley scored his first of three goals ten minutes after the restart as Stockbridge struggled with the pace of the Hamworthy players.
Warren Byerley added his second goal soon after his first, getting on the end of a cross, and firing home from close range. Jack Swann was brought down as he ran into the box, and the Referee had no hesitation in awarding a penalty. Warren Byerley made up for his penalty miss on Saturday by completing the scoring with a well taken shot into the corner of the net to complete his hat trick. Stockbridge were given the chance to get a consolation goal when they were awarded a penalty  for a clumsy challenge by Steve Gilbert, but Martin Peters dived to make his only real save of the night to deny them. There were worried faces on the Hammer’s bench as the keeper stayed down after hitting the post, but luckily Martin was able to continue following treatment. The game got a little scrappy towards the ends as United players tried to get their names on the score sheet, and the team lost it’s shape, but Phil and his team were more than happy with the final 5-0 score line.

Team: M. Peters, M. Hubbard, M. Grimason, S. Gilbert, N. Walker, C. Mutch (R. Middleton), S. Legg, R. Dovell, J. Swann, W. Byerley, R. Jackson (J. Stickland) Unused Sub: M.Seal