HAMWORTHY UNITED RESERVES 1 HOLT UNITED 4
Dorset Premier League (Saturday13-12-08)
In one of the few games that were played in the area Hamworthy Reserves lost to the team that had gone eight games unbeaten, and are now in 2nd position in the league. The Hammers fielded several under eighteen players all of whom gave a good account of themselves, and certainly did not deserve to lose by three goals. In fact for some periods of the game they were on top, and with better finishing in the first half they could have gone in a couple of goals up.
Hamworthy were a goal behind before they even had chance to settle. A Keith Middleton corner was headed in by Paul Hunnybun after only three minutes. The ex-Hammer took full advantage of some hesitancy in the Reserve’s defence to nip in and score at the near post. The Hammers picked themselves up, and gradually got back into the game. Both teams attacked at every opportunity and there were goal scoring chances created at both ends. On at least three separate occasions the Holt Keeper misjudged crosses, but Hamworthy failed to take full advantage. The score remained therefore 1-0 to the visitors at the break.
Soon after the interval Steve Gilbert (playing in an unusual mid-field position for him) should have scored with just the Keeper to beat, but the Holt man made a good save.The Reserves continued to give as good as they got until Holt were awarded a penalty from which Steve Devlin scored in the 60th minute. This was much to the surprise of most people at the County Ground including the players .The Referee described it after the game as one of the softest penalties he has ever given. Evidently a Hamworthy player clipped a Holt attacker‘s heel as he went by him., but failed to bring him down. Despite this set back the Hammers continued to take the game to Holt winning a series of corners, and from one of these Steve Gilbert scored with a powerful header to make it 2-1. The Ressies at this point looked quite capable of getting at least a point from the game. With just six minutes remaining they were once again made to pay for a defensive slip as the Visitors added a third through Sam Vine. This goal seemed to knock the fight out of the Hammers, and Holt scored a fourth with a cracking long range effort from Steve Devlin just before the end.
The end result makes it look an easy Holt victory which it certainly was not. A 2-1 win for the visitors would have been a truer reflection of the game. The Reserves should take heart from the game. If they to play like this against lesser teams in the league, and continue to improve they will soon rise up the table.
Team: W. Robbins, R. Flower, G. Horlock, S. Griffiths, J. Cole, C. Miles, S. Gilbert, M. Wynne (S. Jones), D. Orchard, M. Claremont (S. Lanahan), S. Coakes (D. Watts). Unused Subs : G.Williams, A Powell