Match Reports 2008/2009Havant & Waterlooville 1
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Hawks | Eastbourne Borough | |||
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Kevin Scriven Jay Smith (Rogers, 73) Jay Gasson (Wilkinson, 46) Jamie Collins (Ramsey, 46) Guy Butters (Elphick, 46) Ian Simpemba (Conroy, 46) Sammy Igoe (Page, 73) Gary Holloway (Edwards, 46) Jamie Slabber (Baldacchino, 76) Rocky Baptiste (James, 76) Brett Poate (Ford, 76) Substitutes |
GoalsHawks Baptiste (14) Eastbourne Borough Att: 370 |
Lee Hook (Andy Ballard, 69) Darren Baker Neil Jenkins Matt Smart (Dominic Douglas, 79) Ben Austin Jay Lovett (Darren Budd, 79) Pat Harding (Mo Harkin, 62) Paul Armstrong Jean-Michel Sigere (Allan Tait, 58) Nathan Crabb (Andy Atkin, 58) Simon Wormull (Matt Crabb, 62) Substitutes - - - - - |
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 |
The Hawks could boast one time Pompey midfielder Sammy Igoe among their ranks, and it was his perceptive 30 yard through ball that allowed Baptiste to slip behind Jay Lovett for a brilliantly curved shot that beat Lee Hook and bounced back favourably off the post for Baptiste to finish with a tap in. The pair ran the game for the Hawks in the opening stages, giving Hawks boss Shaun Gale something of a financial headache in trying to keep both of them at Westleigh Park. “Rocky’s Rocky, we all know that,” Gale said after the game. “No body wanted him to leave the club at the end of last season, but what he was asking for was out of the question. “Tonight he’s come straight back into the side and scored a goal. I know he can do that, it’s never been in doubt. He knows he’s not on trial and I told him that before the game. “If I can sit down with him and agree terms then maybe Rocky will be a Hawks player again.” But Igoe’s talent may prove more elusive to the Hawks. “He’s a decent footballer with a league pedigree,” Gale said. “You don’t get to play professionally without being good and he did very well tonight. But I don’t know if we’ll be able to agree anything at the moment, we’ll just have to wait and see.” Jamie Slabber, looking for his first home goal of the pre-season, came close to adding a second when he head a Gary Holloway corner into defenders on the line, but the Sports almost struck back when Nathan Crabb’s close range header was snatched from the air at the last second by Kevin Scriven. The Hawks keeper then did equally well when he was forced into a diving save to stop Pat Armstrong’s firmly struck effort after Eastbourne broke through the Hawks defence again. But despite the attacks, the visitors looked second best to the Hawks through the first half. Brett Poate’s low effort bobbled wide of the post after Baptiste got in behind the defence again for a neat cross, and Igoe continued to tie the visiting midfield in knots. Just before half time however, the Hawks had a lucky let off when a lightning 20 yarder from Matt Smart sent Scriven flying across his goal, only for it to flash just wide. Wormull’s long slicing effort at the start of the second half would have counted had Sigere not touched it as it passed him, ruling out a perfect equalizer with an offside. Once both sides started making wholesale changes to their teams though, the pace of the game slowed, and eventually fizzled out well before the final whistle. But for Hawks boss Gale, the exercise had ticked all the necessary boxes; “We may not have created unbelievable football in our pre-season games so far,” he admitted. “But it’s important with the number of new players we’ve signed to let them gel, and tonight we looked solid with more of a cutting edge about our play. “Every team we’ve played at home so far has been strong opposition. They’ve been professional sides who have given us a tough learning curve. Eastbourne are a very good side; it isn’t easy to get out of our league and they did it the hard way through the play-offs.” |
