MATCH REPORT: Havant & Waterlooville 4-0 Wimborne Town
If ever a scoreline didn’t represent a game, then this was it. Wimborne had 17 attempts on goal (three of which hit post and bar), Havant had seven; and The Hawks’ man-of-the-match award was given to goalkeeper Lorenz Ferdinand. The visitors were totally dominant for an hour but couldn’t find the net; then the hosts scored and ran away with the game.
Manager Tim Sills made five changes from the team which started at Bracknell a week ago: Bastian Smith in goal, Billy Walker and Tyler Edmondson in central defence, with Ajani Burchall and Lewis Williams in midfield. The bench was loaded with attacking intent.
Wimborne grabbed the initiative from the first whistle. Lewis Williams, coming in off the left-wing played a one-two with Joe Smith and fired narrowly over; Josh Carmichael’s central chipped free-kick was headed goalwards by Sam Jackson only for keeper Ferdinand to make a brilliant save low-down just inside his post; Ajani Burchall, who was too hot for the Havant defence to handle, jinked into the area for Joe Smith to pull-back from the by-line; Smith charged into the area to fire goalwards; Williams went on a “now you see me, now you don’t” run on the left; Sam Jackson found Josh McQuoid whose shot was turned for a corner by the flying Ferdinand; Williams’ in-swinging resultant corner eluded everyone only to rebound off the inside of the far post; Smith chased a lost cause down the left, won the ball, and had only one thing on his mind, but the keeper somehow turned his goal-bound drive for a corner.
Wimborne controlled the game, and were as dominant in defence as they were in midfield and attack. Billy Walker won every header as Wimborne’s back-line kept Havant’s strike force quiet – in fact The Hawks couldn’t muster a single goal attempt in the half. Wimborne were that dominant. But The Magpies would rue not turning that dominance into goals.
After Joe Smith had gone on another rampaging run only for the shot-stopper to win out again, Havant came into the game more at the start of the second-half. But it was not until the 60th minute that they had their first shot, which went well wide. Immediately after that, Williams retrieved a loose ball wide on the left, raced to the by-line, and pulled back for Max Bustamante’s fierce drive to cannon off the cross-bar. The rebound was blocked, and in the counter-attack right-back Taylor charged down the inside-right channel and unleashed an unstoppable drive into the roof of the net – it was a super individual goal.
Five minutes later, Havant doubled their lead: a well-delivered in-swinging free-kick from the left touch-line was headed into the net by the stooping Rooney. Wimborne tried to respond: Bustamante fired a low ball into the danger area; McQuoid’s flick from a cross from the right rebounded off the inside of the post; Cam Munn fired Bustamante’s cross wide; and Jackson’s pass was controlled by Will Fletcher and moved on to Williams whose shot was agonisingly close.
Then, on 83 minutes, Havant ended the game as a contest: Ryan Seager, who until then had been kept quiet by Walker and debutant Tyler Edmondson, chased onto a ball over the top, turned his defenders this way and that, before firing past the diving Bastian Smith from just inside the box. As the clock moved into time added on, referee Harrison decided that Giwa-Mcneil’s run into the box on the left had been stopped illegally, and Seager dispatched the penalty with aplomb.
Just as at Bracknell the previous Saturday, Wimborne put on a brilliant first-half away performance – all that was missing was a goal or three. But once Havant scored, the momentum of the game changed, and The Hawks took full advantage. As I said at the beginning of my report, the score-line did not reflect the game. But the points go the team which scores more – Havant took their chances, Wimborne didn’t.
Wimborne: B.Smith, Eccott-Young, Walker, Edmondson, Jackson, Carmichael (Munn 64), Roundell-Prince (Ryan 74), McQuoid, Williams (Richardson 90+2), Burchall (Bustamante 59), J.Smith (Fletcher 64)
Attendance: 686
