HAYLING UNITED 2 HAMWORTHY UNITED 1
Sydenhams Wessex Premier League (Saturday 08-08-09)
The Hammers started the new season by losing to a team that had never lost to before. This was after they had dominated the opening twenty minutes, and taken a well deserved lead. It was true to say that playing good football on such a hot day was not made any easier by a hard bumpy pitch. This led to an uneven bounce of the ball that made the passing game very difficult. Hamworthy should still however had enough experience, and skill to have got something out of the game.
The Hammers made a bright start kicking down the slight slope, and had the Home Side pinned deep in their own half for much of the early exchanges. The Hamworthy pressure soon paid dividends when they took the lead after twelve minutes. The ball was cleared out to the right, but only found Richard McCabe some twenty five yards out who hammered his shot back past keeper Tony Horrop and low into the far corner of the net. The Hammers almost went two up soon after when they hit the base of the post with the keeper again well beaten. The very tall Nick Edgington kept the Hamworthy Central Defenders on their toes with his height and strength. Apart from him they looked fairly comfortable until the twenty eighth minute when two mistakes led to the eqalising goal. Firstly Max Crowe got robbed of the ball as he tried to carry the ball out of defence. This gave back the possession to the Islanders. The through ball appeared to be well covered by Greg Horlock who went to pass it back to his Keeper. Unfortunately he did not seem to notice that Steve Shergold had charged off his line to cover the same through ball. The pass back hit the advancing keeper and rebounded to a Hayling player who had the simple task of knocking the ball into an empty net. The Home side took fresh heart from this gift, and came much more into the game for the rest of the half.
HT 1-1
The second half started much as the first with Hamworthy having more of the play but this time without really testing the keeper. Large appeals for a penalty were turned down by the Referee when Stewart Cannie appeared to have been taken out from behind. Once again the Islanders scored against the run of play. This time firing a low deflected shot past the unlucky Steve Shergold who appeared to have the original shot well covered. Hayling raised their game again, and did not allow Hamworthy the time or space to get back into the match. The Home side now wanted the win more than the Hammers, and it was not until the last five minutes, and after a couple of late substitutes that Hamworthy looked like getting an equalizer. They went very close with a couple of near misses near the end, but full credit to Hayling who held on for all three points.
Team: S. Shergold, K. Yelland, R. Jackson, O. Cherrett (M. Jackson) G. Horlock, S. Llewelyn, R. McCabe, M. Crow, S. Cannie (K. Middleton), W. Byerley, J. Prieur-Merritt. Unused Subs G. Clarke, T. Vavrecka, A. Tong