HAMWORTHY UNITED 1 GILLINGHAM TOWN 4
Dorset Senior Cup (2nd Round)
Simon Browne was forced into making changes to the line up with Karl Yelland and Jack Satterly unavailable, and Dianne Bassiriki injured. This however did not excuse the abysmal performance of the side against a team from one step below them in the F.A. pyramid. It was not just the losing of the game, but the manner in which they lost. Gillingham who thoroughly deserved their win were up for it and wanted it far more than the Hammers. Hamworthy turned in another poor Cup performance and probably had their worst game this season.
It all started brightly enough with the Hammers having slightly the better of the early exchanges. Things were soon to change when Gillingham won a corner from their first attack after five minutes. The resulting cross was headed against the bar, and when the ball dropped it should have been easily cleared. Will Robinson who was filling in at full back in place of Karl Yelland gave the ball straight to a Town player. He was standing on the six yard box, and had the simple job to side foot the ball past Shane Murphy. The Hammers quickly got back on to the attack, and were back level within four minutes. Stuart Cannie cut in from the left, and fired a shot into the bottom corner to restore parity. Any hopes that United would now raise their game after getting over the early shock was soon dispelled with another piece of poor defending. A well taken free kick into the six yard box was again not dealt with. This allowed the Gillingham man of the match Salem to get in a looping header in the top corner to score. This was his second goal of the game with only eighteen minutes gone. Things got worse for the Hammers when they gave the ball away cheaply in their own half. This resulted in a quick Gillingham passing movement that ended with the ball in the back of the United net. The Hamworthy mid-field at times looked non existent, and was often overrun. Salem who was a constant threat in the air again hit the crossbar from a corner. Following a save from a Hamworthy corner there were loud appeals from the United players that the ball had gone over the line, but these were turned down by the officials.
HT 1-3
Any hopes of a Hammers revival soon disappeared within a few minutes of the restart. A Town player broke down the wing, and hit an accurate cross into the box. This found an unmarked Nick Crompton who gave Shane Murphy no chance with a well placed shot. Arron Corby who had hit the woodwork in the first half came close to reducing the arrears when he hit the post. United also had another attempt cleared off the line. Gillingham too also had good chances to increase their lead, especially when a few Hamworthy players began to argue with each other. When the final whistle came nobody could dispute the result which was a fair reflection of the North Dorset side’s superiority for most of the game, and United’s failure to compete with them
FT 1-4 Team: S.Murphy,W.Robinson,S. Lockyer,,M.White,D.Haysom,S. Lanahan ,L.Wilkins ,M.Head, L.Burbidge,A.Corby, S.Cannie