spectator
November 23 2009


page design and pictures
by
BRIAN LOVEGROVE


brianlovegrove@frederique.fsnet.co.uk

HAVANT LOSE TO PLYMOUTH IN LAST MINUTE

mm

Goal scorers Ezz and Calum about to clash

Havant slumped to a 4-3 loss against bottom of the league Plymouth Marjons, who now have Calum Giles as Player/Coachb formerly with Havant.
  This was Giles first return to Havant, who had Raj Laly back, absent last week as an on call doctor, but were without Mark Dunn in defence.
  The game begun in the ideal way for Havant, as within a minute James Lawson broke down the right hand side slotting the ball across the Plymouth circle, where Craig Duffy collected, played the ball past the keeper Jason Watt,  for Tom Murtagh to tap the ball in.
 Havant's high level of intensity that has been present for the past two games dropped, letting Plymouth back in the game on 7 minutes with a debatable goal.
 Ali Falconer struck a reverse stick shot but it seemed to be going far wide before hitting a Havant defender on the arm when the ball was redirected into the goal.  
 On 21 minutes Joe Toulson doubled Plymouth’s goal tally with an unchallenged deflection into the goal.         

  Havant were often left exposed after several passes made it through the press and found Plymouth forwards unmarked, if not for keeper Dan Tolfrey the score line could have been more troubling after the number of good saves he made.
 Ahmed Ezz Mohammed equalised on 33 minutes from a short corner.
 At the restart the score line was 2-2 and Havant were looking to push on and score more goals to try and earn all three points.
 After starting well and keeping the pressure on the Plymouth defence, Nathan Palmer won a penalty stroke after the ball was stopped on the line by a defenders foot.
 Gerald Cox stepped up and slotted the ball into the bottom right hand corner
At 3-2 Havant were looking to kick on, however some intelligent aerials and passes from Giles for
Plymouth pinned the home side back and forced pressure on the Havant defence
report
 by
Nathan Palmer

As a result of this pressure Plymouth won a short corner on 47 minutes which Giles converted to make the score 3-3.
 With the pressure on to win all three points Havant pushed forward, always wary of the threat of more  aerials.
 Havant created more and more chances but just couldn’t find a way to finish the play, luck did not seem to be going Havant’s way.
 This could have been largely down to the lack of intensity and focus around the pitch, allowing Plymouth the space to play around the home side.
  In the last minute, Havant were undone by an aerial from Giles found unmarked player on the top of the D, who turned and passed to Richard Headlam beating Tolfrey from close range to seal the game at 4-3 to the visitors. The loss sees Havant fall to 5th in the table.
Next week sees the last game before the Christmas break at home against Guildford on Sunday, Havant will want the intensity that has won games to return for the upcoming fixture.

 

P

W

D

L

F

A

GD

Pts

Team Bath Buccaneers

9

9

0

0

41

21

20

27

Whitchurch

9

5

0

4

27

25

2

15

Fareham

9

4

1

4

22

19

3

13

Bournville

9

3

4

2

25

26

-1

13

Havant

9

3

3

3

23

25

-2

12

Guildford

9

3

2

4

18

18

0

11

University of Birmingham

9

3

1

5

22

22

0

10

Stourport

9

2

3

4

18

23

-5

9

Old Georgians

9

2

2

5

23

31

-8

8

Plymouth Marjon

9

1

4

4

18

27

-9

7

mm

HAVANT   0  OXFORD HAWKS  0
 
I am sorry to say that the goal scoring drought continues, but you could certainly not knock the effort and commitment of the local side who tried all that they could to take the 3 points.  Our opponents from Oxford just didn’t know what hit them in the first 10 minutes.  4 short corners and with the post hit on 2 occasions, was then further compounded by a disallowed goal ruled to be too high from Jo Faulkner’s short corner strike from the top of the D.
 
The opposition never really got anywhere near us for the first 20 minutes but frustration began to play it’s part towards the end of the half as they were allowed to get back into the game.  I have to say however it was great to witness that extra presence and aggression on the park from Havant, who again demonstrated just how it is possible to play wonderful hockey until we reach the opposition 25. 
 
The second period saw some tactical changes but Oxford raised their game.  At one point the fixture became end to end, but again neither side had that clinical finish to wrap up the fixture.  You have to give credit to Oxford who did defend very well and kept Havant at bay with some excellent last ditch defensive work.  Towards the end either side could have nicked a victory but it was not to be.
 
“It is now becoming just a confidence issue.  Players must believe in their ability to take opportunities when they present themselves.  An instinctive reaction to just deliver a shot on target must be a priority.  Next week we travel away to Rover Oxford who themselves went down 9-1 to Southampton today”.
 
Cleave Faulkner

A report at time of sending this e-mail is not available, but I can report our 2nd XI men had a very good 3-1 home win against third placed Barnes 1. The goal scorers were Andy Galliers, Ali Pollard and Mark Sawford.