NEW MILTON TOWN FC 1 HAMWORTHY UNITED FC 3
Sydenhams Wessex League Premier Division (Sat 09-08-08)
Despite having at least five of their First Team Squad missing for one reason or another the Hammers got their season underway with a good away win against a much improved New Milton Town. Hamworthy had to come from behind to win the match after conceding a sloppy goal after about twenty minutes of the first half.
The Hammers started the better of the two sides and it took just two minutes for Ryan Dovell’s speculative shot from fully thirty yards to test the Town keeper. Shortly afterwards a free kick taken by the Stuart Cannie led to a melee in the New Milton box before the ball was eventually scrambled away to safety. It was against the run of play when New Milton opened the scoring after approximately twenty minutes. The Hamworthy Defence did not react quickly enough when a through ball put a Town striker through on goal. Martin Peters made a brave attempt to save, but could not prevent the ball going over his body, and into the net. Hamworthy continued to look the more dangerous of the two sides. A Stuart Cannie shot from the left hand side of the box looked destined for the top right hand corner of the net until the Home Keeper pulled off a brilliant save to keep his side in front. Shortly afterwards Cannie had another goal bound effort saved, again by some great goalkeeping. Max Crow and Ben Osborne exchanged a quick one two before the resulting shot was again cleared. With two minutes of the half remaining Warren Byerley was hauled to the ground in the penalty box as he attempted to go through on goal. With the New Milton player red carded Byerley slotted the ball home from the spot for a much deserved equaliser.
As so often happens when a team is reduced to ten men New Milton raised their game after the break, and played a lot better. The game was a lot more even than it was in the first half but United always looked the more dangerous of the two teams in attack. Stuart Cannie had a couple of long shots that cleared the bar, before the Hammers took the lead. With a quarter of the game still remaining Stuart Cannie’s pass picked out the corner taker Ryan Dovell who made no mistake in scoring his side’s second goal of the afternoon. United’s third goal four minutes from the end of play was the pick of the bunch, and was applauded not only by the Hamworthy Dugout, but to their credit the New Milton bench as well. Young substitute Mark Claremont picked the ball up on the edge of the box before firing an unstoppable shot into the far top corner of the net to make the final score 3-1 to the Hammers.
This was only the second time that the Hammers have won their opening game of the season since joining the Wessex League. The first was in August 2005, and was at Home against Bemerton Heath Harlequins under Alex Pike. This win will put Phil Simkin, and his men in good heart when they meet League Favourites Wimborne Town in their next match at the County Ground. The Hamworthy Manager should have his full squad to pick from other than Mark Dancer who is still suspended for a further game. Phil will face some difficult decisions in his team selections, but that can only be good for the Hammers.
Hamworthy United Team: M. Peters, K. Yelland, M. Grimason, G. Horlock, O. Cherrett, R, McCabe, M. Crowe, R. Dovell, B. Osborne (M. Clairmont), W. Byerley, S. Cannie
Unused Subs: J. Crossin, L. Thomas, J. Byrne.