HAMWORTHY UNITED 3 BLACKFIELD & LANGLEY 2
Sydenhams Wessex Premier League (Saturday 31-10-09)
Playing the whole of the second half with ten men The Hammers came twice from behind to secure all three points. This was their first Home win of the season in the league, and their second in a week. A delighted Home crowd saw United climb out of the bottom spot with a brilliant battling second half display. This win was all the more pleasing for Simon Browne who was down to the bare bones for selection with players not available due to suspensions and injuries. One new face on the bench was Larbi Mekchiche and his introduction in the second half was to the game. The Blackfield & Langley line up featured ex-Hammer Tom Hawkins in goal. He was a regular in our promotion winning side and was Hamworthy’s first Wessex League keeper.
There was not much to choose between the two sides in the opening quarter of the game with perhaps the Visitors having the slight edge on play. With twenty minutes gone Blackfield & Langley opened the scoring with an own goal. This followed a somewhat disputed throw in when the Assitant Referee much to the surprise of those watching missed the ball going out the first time, and then gave the throw the wrong way when it went out again. The ball was played into the six yard box from the throw where confusion in the Hammer’s defence resulted in Ollie Cherrett knocking the ball past his own Keeper. Blackfield & Langley then got on top for a period playing some good attractive football, but United continued to battle oto stay in the game. This paid dividends, and they were rewarded with a Stuart Cannie goal from a corner. The Hamworthy striker who is now coming into a bit of form rose unchallenged to direct his header passed Tom Hawkins for his second goal in two games. As half time approached United were reduced to ten men when James Merritt was shown a second yellow card for a careless tackle.
H.T 1-1
Things looked ominous for the Hammers when shortly after half time Blackfield and Langley took the lead again. After a sweeping move up field, Richard Bridge found the top corner of the net with a great strike from twenty yards out. The Visitors were now playing with a lot of confidence, and there now looked to be only one winner of this game. A Simon Browne substitution however was to change the game. New signing Larbi Mekchiche the ex-Dorchester Town player came on for Mark Dancer who had played well up to that point filling in up front. The new man made his mark straight away when he burst with pace through the middle and unleashed a terrific shot that look destined for the top corner. Tom Hawkins did well to pull off a great save and push the ball over. Within two minutes Mechiche repeated the feat, but this time the ball struck the right angle of post and bar before rebounding to safety. The Blackfield and Langley were now unsettled and for the first time looked vulnerable, and it came as no surprise when Steve Llewelyn brought the scores level. With just a minute of normal time remaining the Visitors sent everybody up for a corner, and this proved to be fatal. Richard Jackson broke quickly from defence and ran the full length of the pitch before picking out Ollie Cherrett who somehow managed to keep up with him, and slide the ball home.
FT 3-2
Team: S. Shergold, K. Yelland, R. Jackson,O. Cherrett S. Llewelyn, J. Merritt, M. Crow, T. Vavreka , C. Mutch M.Dancer (L. Mekchiche) S. Cannie Unused Subs: Simon Browne E. Robberts