Dorset Premier League (Saturday 29-08-09)

Following their very good mid-week win against Swanage Town & Herston, Kevin Jackson’s Team picked up a very good away point at last season’s League Winners Portland United. This with the bare minimum of players at his disposal and having to sign a new Keeper due to Adam Tong’s enforced lay-off following his head injury against Swanage.
The Hammers controlled much of the play for most of the game, but could not turn their superiority into goals before the break. New Keeper Ben Gould enjoyed a confident start to his Hamworthy United career, and Graeme Rose & Matt White were making their presence felt.
HT 0-0
Hamworthy continued to play well and eventually got their just reward by taking the lead. A throw in by Nathan Hall was met with a header from Graeme Rose which looped over the Portland Keeper and into the net. With just ten minutes of the game remaining the Home side was awarded a penalty after a Hamworthy player handled the ball. Despite his best efforts Ben Gould could not prevent Portland from scoring and squaring the match.
This was a good all round Team performance. The outlook for the Team is beginning to look much brighter with a considerable drop in the average age of the players. Apart from the experienced Mike Glavin the rest of the team were in their early twenties or below, and with more young players still to come things are looking up. Things do not get any easier for the Reserves who now face last season’s runners up Poole Borough away in their next game.
FT 1-1

Team: B. Gould, N.Hall, S. Williams, M. Smith, A. Jackson, M. Glavin, M. Seal, G. Rose, M. White, T. Thomas, L. Madgewick

F.A. Cup Preliminary Round (Saturday 29-08-09)
What a difference a week makes. After losing the previous Saturday playing some inept football, they recovered midweek with a great performance wining 3-0 away. This game again brought out a top performance from the Hammers against a team from the league above them.
Hamworthy could not have had a better start scoring after only 38 seconds from their first attack. Jack Swann took a high ball on his chest directing it out to Max Crow on the wide right. He hit a low angled cross into the six yard which evaded everyone including the Keeper. He appeared to leave the ball expecting it to go wide. The ball however hit the base of the far post, and rebounded over the line to make it 1-0. Two minutes later they almost went two up when another free kick from distance evaded every one, and brought a last ditch save from Josh Payne, a Welsh Youth International. Frome took full advantage of a Steve Shergold error to equalise after twenty minutes. The United Keeper was drawn out of his area by a long lob from the left, and tried to head the ball clear. Unfortunately he only headed the ball back towards his own goal leaving new signing Tom Piotrowski with an easy tap in. The scores did not remain level for very long before the Hammers hit back with a Jack Swann goal. A cross from the right was headed back by Ollie Cherrett to Swann, The United striker kept his cool, and picked his spot before firing the ball past Payne to restore the lead. Hamworthy continued to have the better of things before the break and scored again five minutes before half time. A good passing move up the left found Jack Swann with a clear run in on goal and the Frome Keeper charging off his line
to cover the move. From thirty yards out, Swann looked up and lifted the ball over the advancing Keeper into the empty net for his second, and Hamworthy’s third goal.
HT 3-1
Frome were much more of an attacking force in the second half, but still looked susceptible to the counter attack. They should have reduced the arrears when they missed the easiest of chances from inside the six yard box, shooting wide with just the Keeper to beat. The Hammer’s defence were now under constant pressure as the Town tried to reduce the arrears, and get back into the game. A couple of near misses, and a header on top of the cross bar, and some good defending only added to the Frome frustration. They did eventually score with twenty minutes to go following a good save from Steve Shergold from a corner. The clearance however only went back out the corner taker, and he sent the ball back into the six yard box. Shergold appeared to be impeded as he went to collect the ball, and it dropped at the feet of Craig Fulham who stabbed the ball home from two yards. Hamworthy kept their heads to see out the remaining time, and march on to meet Bridgwater Town away in the next round. Over the full ninety minutes the Hammers thoroughly deserved their win with a good all round team display.
FT 3-2
Team: S. Shergold, M. Crow, J. Merritt, O. Cherritt, S. Llewellyn, T. Vavrecka, G. Langrish, R. McCabe, S. Cannie, J. Swann (M. Claremont), R. Jackson.
Unused Subs: M. Dancer, G. Clarke, S. Langrish, C. Khider.