retired_edmari

17/9/05
Westleigh Park, Havant – Att: 529
Havant & Waterlooville v Yeading (Conference South)

Back home we had to bounce back from the horror show of last week, and we came with a couple of changes. Seb Wallis-Taylor replaced Briscoe at the back, and Flood took over from Baptiste starting up front.

The first half was highly unspectacular, with neither side making much from the few chances that were created. Law came closest for us, forcing a couple of good stops from Preddie, and 41-year-old player/manager Hippolyte showed he can still match the young lads, causing more problems for my defence than any of his side.

The second half continued much the same, and a single goal would eventually settle it. Flood was the scorer ten minutes from time. Flood with the winner, and Wallis-Taylor took the award for man of the match. Not too bad a couple of changes, that.

Havant & W 1 (Flood 81) Yeading 0
Ghent 7, Wallis-Taylor 8, Annon 7, Wicks 7, Whelan 6, Corbett 7, Rastoll 6, Ford 7, Savage 7, Flood 7, Law 7
Man of the Match: Sebastian Wallis-Taylor (Havant & W)


19/9/05
Up at FA HQ, the long road to the FA Cup Final was beginning with the draw for the Second Qualifying Round of said tournament. We managed to avoid some of the more difficult sides, fortunately, and will line up against tiny Camberley Town at Westleigh Park on Saturday. Just a handful of ties pit regional Conference teams against each other, with the highlight probably featuring Sutton Utd and Worksop, who have both started well to be sitting in the top 6 of their respective division.

retired_edmari

24/9/05

‘The Greatest Cup Competition in the World’. John Motson points that out every time he gets over-excited commentating on a half decent match. It was time for my FA Cup bow, with a hope we could at least progress through this round. With the club slowly slipping into the red as far as money was concerned, a couple of good gates and a little reward money would come in very useful indeed.

Westleigh Park, Havant – Att: 689
Havant & Waterlooville v Camberley Town (FA Cup Second Qualifying Round)

Going into this match as 8-1on favourites, I was confident enough to give some of the backup players a run out to prove their worth. Stiel was the first of those called into action, with the visitors coming quickly out of the blocks in the hunt for a surprise early goal. In fact for most of the first half we were hardly on the pitch – our only real chances worth speaking of being a couple of long-range efforts from Town.

We took the lead shortly before the break in bizarre circumstances. A shocking backpass was easily intercepted by Law, who from 30 yards out tapped the ball neatly in the direction of the net. The keeper had barely ran back into his area after chasing the backpass by the time Law had wheeled away to celebrate. Before the break it was 2-0, with Flood knocking in a close-range goal after Town’s cross had been poorly dealt with by the defence. Following the latter 15 minutes of the half I felt we deserved to be in front, but following the poor start it was perhaps a tad flattering to us.

The second half brought no more goals so we had done enough, and just had to endure a nervy last few minutes dealing with the fresh legs that Camberley threw off the bench in the hunt for a late salvation.

Havant & W 2 (Law 41, Flood 44) Camberley 0
Stiel 7, Wallis-Taylor 7, Sharp 7, Pearce 8, Jordan 7, Corbett 7, Taggart 8, Ford 7 (Lopez 64, 6), Town 7, Flood 7 (Wilson-Denis 64, 6), Law 7
Man of the Match: Sam Pearce (Havant & W)

26/9/05

Following the routine victory on Saturday it was all eyes on FA HQ once more for the draw of the Third Qualifying Round, with us now just 2 wins shy of matching up against the ‘big guns’ of League One and Two.

Our hopes of getting there were improved with another home match against a lesser side. Newcastle Town or Dorking, who drew 1-1 at the Lyme Valley Parkway Stadium on Saturday, will be the guests at Westleigh Park in 2 weeks time.

28/9/05

Following the cup replays, we were drawn Newcastle Town in the next round. The minnows overcame Dorking at Meadowbank 3-2, thanks to a late winner from Mick Lennon.

retired_edmari

1/10/05
Church Road, Hayes – Att: 430
Hayes v Havant & Waterlooville (Conference South)

Our trip to Middlesex saw a highly unentertaining match. Across the ninety minutes just a dozen attempts on goal were shared.

Just the one goal came of it all, and it wouldn’t go our way. Ben Booth’s early strike ended up settling matters here, but we were left unlucky after a Flood goal was disallowed for a dubious offside decision. Hayes also missed a late penalty that would’ve put the game beyond doubt, with Orlando Jeffery blasting over from 12 yards.

Hayes 1 (Booth 9) Havant & W 0
Stiel 6, Wallis-Taylor 8, Sharp 7, Whelan 7, Wicks 6, Corbett 6, Taggart 7, Ford 8, Town 6 (Savage 45, 7), Flood 6, Law 6 (Baptiste 56, 6)
Man of the Match: Colin Fortune (Hayes)

5/10/05
Westleigh Park, Havant – Att: 501
Havant & Waterlooville v Eastleigh (Conference South)

A change to tactics was brought in following the poor showing at the weekend, and worked rather quickly with Flood scoring just three minutes in. His weak shot took a deflection and beat Malcolm Rigby to put us one-up.

Law was injured shortly after then, fortunately not severely and he’ll only miss the weekend’s match against Newcastle Town. With Law gone we struggled to further unlock the solid visiting defence, and try as we might couldn’t create a good enough chance to move further in front.

Martin Thomas, having been off the bench just a few minutes, equalized for Eastleigh and his effort proved enough to grab a point for them. Another somewhat disappointing result and it was time we began improving rather quickly.

Havant & W 1 (Flood 3) Eastleigh 1 (Thomas 74)
Stiel 6, Savage 6, Briscoe 7, Wicks 6, Whelan 8, Ford 7, Rastoll 6 (Taggart 58, 6), Corbett 6, Jordan 6 (Pearce 58, 4), Law 7 (Baptiste 15, 6), Flood 7
Man of the Match: Phil Whelan (Havant & W)

retired_edmari

8/10/05
Westleigh Park, Havant – Att: 743
Havant & Waterlooville v Newcastle Town (FA Cup Third Qualifying Round)

Once more we hosted lower opposition in our bid to make some progress in the cup. A fairly strong side played with little room left for an upset.

Unfortunately we were left wanting a bit up front, failing to convert any of our ten chances. Our star man James Flood had the closest couple of those efforts, but was equaled by his namesake in the visitor’s goal.

Our inability to score here was always looking like it wouldn’t change, so it was handy that the defence was in enough form to keep their attack at bay and take us into a trip to the midlands for a replay.

Havant & W 0 Newcastle Town 0
Stiel 6, Savage 6, Briscoe 6 (Wallis-Taylor 47, 7), Wicks 7, Whelan 7, Ford 7, Rastoll 6, Corbett 6, Jordan 6, Wilson-Denis 7, Flood 8
Man of the Match: James Flood (Havant & W)


Elsewhere today the latest round of World Cup qualification matches were taking place. Ireland struggled their way to a 2-2 draw in Cyprus, while Northern Ireland lost 2-1 to Wales in Belfast. Scotland made light work of their visitors, Belarus, winning 3-1, and finally England saw off the Austrians 4-1 in Manchester.


10/10/05

We shared a place in the hat for the draw of the final FA Cup Qualifier, which sees the entry into the competition of the national Conference teams.

Provided we defeat Newcastle on Wednesday, we’ll face one of those from the league above, with a home tie against Scarborough the prize should we win. Scarborough currently lie 8th place in the Conference.

12/10/05

Lyme Valley Parkway Stadium, Newcastle-under-Lyme – Att: 2,173
Newcastle Town v Havant & Waterlooville (FA Cup Third Qualifying Round Replay)

Following the poor show on Saturday it was another bite of the cherry here, this time with the incentive of a big match in the next round to spur both sides on.

It certainly seemed to work, as both us and our hosts created a couple of decent early chances, and it was a short time before the deadlock was broken. James Flood pounced on a Rastoll cross to put us into the lead and on track for the next round.

By half time though we’d been well and truly derailed with Newcastle scoring two goals late in the half, the first a Mark Beeston penalty and followed by a good strike from Dave Cockram.

Rastoll eventually spared our blushes though, hitting a brace during the second half, and the sighs of relief could be heard back home on the south coast.

Newcastle Town 2 (Beeston pen 41, Cockram 45) Havant & W 3 (Flood 16, Rastoll 61, 76)
Stiel 6, Savage 7, Rastoll 7, Wicks 7, Whelan 5 (Pearce 85, 6), Ford 7, Briscoe 7, Corbett 6 (Poate 36, 6), Jordan 8, Baptiste 7 (Law 85, 6), Flood 8
Man of the Match: Tom Jordan (Havant & W)


The final round of qualifiers in the European zone of the World Cup thing was upon us also, with a few qualification issues still to be resolved. Ireland finished uninspiringly with another 2-2 draw, this time at home to Switzerland. The poor performance in their final two games left the Irish finishing third, three points short of Israel, who reached the playoff stage at their expense. Scotland crashed 4-0 in Slovenia to confirm their departure at this point. Jermain Defoe grabbed another England hat-trick to help demolish Poland 4-0 and secure them the position as undefeated group winners. Wales beat Azerbaijan 3-0 while Northern Ireland lost 1-0 to Austria, but both results meant little as the two other home nations were all but confirmed in 4th and 5th place respectively.

retired_edmari

15/10/05

Cherrywood Road, Farnborough – Att: 690
Farnborough Town v Havant & Waterlooville (Conference South)

Back to league action following the brief break for 180 minutes of near-embarrassing FA Cup play, we made the tricky journey to Farnborough. They weren’t setting the league on fire this term but were always a tough side to visit.

Well supposedly anyway. My midfield was winning every battle and we made light work of them. Baptiste’s opened his account for the season against his old club, and it proved to be the decisive goal. The scoreline though was incredibly flattering to the home side and we could have won by a few more than just the one.

Farnborough 0 Havant & W 1 (Baptiste 48)
Stiel 7, Savage 7, Rastoll 9, Wicks 8, Whelan 7, Ford 8, Lopez 7, Corbett 6 (Poate 61, 6), Jordan 8, Baptiste 7 (Law 74, 6), Flood 7
Man of the Match: Stéphane Rastoll (Havant & W)


17/10/05

The draw for our first appearance in the FA Trophy was made today. The Second Qualifying Round will see us visit Bradford PA, relegated from the Conference North a few months ago.

22/10/05

Westleigh Park, Havant – Att: 1,760
Havant & Waterlooville v Scarborough (FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round)

Stepping out of the changing rooms I was briefly stuck on my feet as the players ran onto the pitch. A tingle shot down my body as I heard the chants ringing around our small ground, knowing the crowd was much larger than anything I’d encountered here at Westleigh Park so far. After some quick well-wishes with my counterpart Neil Redfearn, I finally made those steps from the tunnel to my dugout.

A place in the FA Cup awaited the winner. Early on it didn’t seem as though one would come from today’s match, with just a couple of attempts being made on either goal during the first half. The second half failed to improve dramatically, with eventually a total of just eight goal attempts being shared by the two sets of players.

We looked to be on course for a replay, and were pushing for a surprise goal when we gave possession away. Mark Quayle broke into our box and was pulled down by Savage, who was lucky to escape with just a caution. Substitute David Pounder found the bottom corner, just beating Stiel’s fingertips to put the Conference side ahead, and Ian Clark capped off an impressive performance with a late goal to book Scarborough’s place in Round One. The scoreline flattered the winners somewhat as we’d put up a strong fight for the match, but regardless of it we were shunted out of the FA Cup for this season.

Havant & W 0 Scarborough 2 (Pounder pen 75, Clark 87)
Stiel 6, Savage 6, Rastoll 7, Wicks 7, Whelan 6, Ford 8, Lopez 6 (Corbett 51, 6), Taggart 6, Jordan 6, Baptiste 6 (Law 51, 6), Flood 7
Man of the Match: Mark Ford (Havant & W)

The disappointment was topped off on Monday as we discovered we lost out on a lucrative tie against League One side Blackpool.

retired_edmari

26/10/05

Westleigh Park, Havant – Att: 666
Havant & Waterlooville v Bognor Regis Town (Conference South)

League form was slowly beginning to look like improving, and we had to keep that going following the recent disappointing end to the FA Cup run. Bognor Regis had started similarly to us, and were like us floating around mid-table at this stage.

They were little match for my side though, and the in form defence restricted the visitors to just a weak effort from defender Barry Flynn. Just the one goal was therefore enough to grab another three points for our tally, with Flood scoring 20 minutes before the final whistle.

Havant & W 1 (Flood 69) Bognor Regis 0
Stiel 6, Savage 6, Wallis-Taylor 8, Wicks 7, Whelan 8, Ford 7, Lopez 7, Rastoll 7, Jordan 7, Law 7 (Baptiste 56, 7), Flood 8
Man of the Match: Barry Flynn (Bognor Regis)


29/10/05

Clarence Park, St. Albans – Att: 1,182
St. Albans City v Havant & Waterlooville (Conference South)

Our trip to St. Albans saw us make it three wins on the bounce with yet another 1-0, and saw us climb into the top 5 of the division. Once more my defence managed to stop just about everything the opposition tried and left Jörg Stiel doing little more than making his retirement plans during another dull 90 minutes for him.

The only goal here was scored by midfielder Guy Lopez during the first half. Rastoll had fired a shot against the woodwork before Guy made it the rebound first and took the easy goal. We lost Wallis-Taylor to a red card moments from the end, after the wing back was booked twice, and he’ll miss our next match a week on Tuesday.

St. Albans 0 Havant & W 1 (Lopez 32)
Stiel 7, Savage 6, Wallis-Taylor 7, Wicks 7, Whelan 8, Ford 7, Lopez 8, Rastoll 8, Jordan 7, Law 7, Flood 6
Man of the Match: Phil Whelan (Havant & W)

retired_edmari

8/11/05

Westleigh Park, Havant – Att: 1,253
Havant & Waterlooville v Cambridge City (Conference South)

Our biggest league gate of the season awaited as we chased the fourth win in a row, with the potential of climbing as high as second place depending upon results elsewhere.

Yet again the defence was the top dog here and Stiel has now faced just 5 shots in the vague direction of his goal during the last 3 matches. This time we were a bit less exciting moving forward but we’d done enough early on, with Gareth Law scoring just a few minutes in.

Law’s powerful strike from the edge of the box was enough to secure yet another 1-0 victory, and we moved onwards and upwards to fourth place, providing a nice confidence boost ahead of the start of our FA Trophy campaign.

Havant & W 1 (Law 5) Cambridge City 0
Stiel 7, Savage 6, Briscoe 8, Wicks 8, Whelan 8, Ford 7, Lopez 7, Rastoll 6 (Corbett 58, 6), Jordan 7, Law 7, Flood 7
Man of the Match: Lee Briscoe (Havant & W)


12/11/05

Horsfall Stadium, Bradford – Att: 186
Bradford Park Avenue v Havant & Waterlooville (FA Trophy Second Qualifying Round)

With league form going nicely, a decent run in this competition will do nicely to keep the confidence flying high while raising a bit of extra money. Following the FA Cup run and the rising attendances at Westleigh Park we’d creeped out of the red and further improvement will be more than welcome.

Bradford PA looked weak from the start and we quickly capitalized, with Flood opening the scoring a few minutes in. However the lead was short lived with Bryan Cox making it 1-1 just minutes later. The hosts continued to apply the pressure, causing us more problems than our recent league opponents and giving Stiel something to deal with.

Lopez put us back in front ten minutes before the break, and Law had one disallowed moments later. Rastoll’s excellent long range effort pushed the game away from them just before the break and with no more goals in the second half we had done enough to make the next round.

Bradford PA 1 (Cox 12) Havant & W 3 (Flood 8, Lopez 34, Rastoll 45)
Stiel 7, Savage 8, Wallis-Taylor 7 (Pearce 66, 7), Wicks 8, Whelan 8, Ford 9, Lopez 9, Rastoll 9, Jordan 7, Law 7 (Baptiste 66, 6), Flood 9
Man of the Match: Stéphane Rastoll (Havant & W)

retired_amyslack

Glad you're back DW, I enjoyed Parte Une.

retired_edmari

Ta very much BobBev, hope you enjoy this one too

14/11/05

After putting Bradford PA out of the competition, we were safely in the draw for the Third Qualifying Round of the FA Trophy. We came away happy with a home tie against minnows Salisbury City.

We also signed a new face today, in the shape of 16 year old midfielder Scott Harber. The youngster shows good potential and could fit nicely into central midfield before too long.



19/11/05

Avenue Stadium, Dorchester – Att: 190
Dorchester Town v Havant & Waterlooville (Conference South)

A small crowd welcomed us out after the short journey to Dorset, where we went in search of notching up another win and keeping the pressure on the top teams.

Our cause was helped almost immediately, when Scott Morgan brought Law down on the edge of the area. The defender’s match was thus over just five minutes in and gave us a man advantage for the rest of the day. The lead was taken shortly after when Adam Holbrook put Rastoll’s cross into his own net.

Dorchester had a good quick attack but had come unstuck a lot this season and found themselves getting sucked into a relegation battle. They were little trouble today as their forwards struggled to get through what is essentially a six-man defence. With a lack of men on the flanks in midfield they also were powerless to stop my wing backs breaking forward, however their defence was good enough to keep us from adding further goals, and we secured another 1-0 win. We climbed another place to third, just three points short of leaders Weymouth.

Dorchester 0 Havant & W 1 (Holbrook og 12)
Stiel 7, Savage 7, Wallis-Taylor 9, Wicks 8, Whelan 7, Ford 7, Lopez 7, Rastoll 7, Jordan 7, Law 7, Flood 7
Man of the Match: Sebastian Wallis-Taylor (Havant & W)



26/11/05

Westleigh Park, Havant – Att: 279
Havant & Waterlooville v Salisbury City (FA Trophy Third Qualifying Round)

Back to our cup run and we were strong favourites to reach the First Round of the competition. From the off we were well on top of The Whites, and took an early lead through Rastoll’s stunning 30-yard free kick. Robbie Matthews tapped home an equaliser a few minutes later and we spent much of the rest of the first half on the back foot.

On the stroke of half time though Rastoll found the net once again, placing the ball home after a neat one-two with Flood, and found time to slam in another superb free kick to extend the lead before the interval.

For the second half we were the only team at the races, and should have stretched the lead much further, however just one more goal was added, with Flood putting his name on the scoresheet towards the end of the match.

Havant & W 4 (Rastoll 4, 45, 45, Flood 73) Salisbury 1 (Matthews 12)
Stiel 7, Savage 7, Wallis-Taylor 8, Wicks 8, Whelan 7, Ford 8, Lopez 8 (Taggart 81, 6), Rastoll 9, Jordan 8, Law 8 (Baptiste 73, 6), Flood 8
Man of the Match: Stéphane Rastoll (Havant & W)

28/11/05

On top of a small financial boost and a good confidence boosting win, we had a place in the FA Trophy, and the draw for the first round was made today. We will face a visit to Merthyr Tydfil next month.

retired_edmari

29/11/05

Westleigh Park, Havant – Att: 1,306
Havant & Waterlooville v Lewes (Conference South)

We returned to league action hoping to carry on the recent form, and started well against Lewes. Man of the moment Rastoll put us in front midway through the first half and once more we were keeping things tight at the back and it looked as though we’d make it half a dozen 1-0s on the trot.

The visitors would be down to ten men early in the second half, with Dean Brennan sent off for a bad challenge on Ford. The ten men struggled from then on, and were eventually beaten with a Ford penalty near the end, lifting us to second place after a third of the season.

Havant & W 2 (Rastoll 20, Ford pen 77) Lewes 0
Stiel 8, Savage 7, Wallis-Taylor 8, Wicks 7, Whelan 7, Ford 7, Lopez 7, Rastoll 7, Jordan 7, Law 8, Flood 8
Man of the Match: Gareth Law (Havant & W)

2/12/05

A new face was welcomed to the club today as young Port Vale striker Mark Hall joined for £1,000. The 19 year old has been in good form for their reserves but found himself transfer listed.

A number of contract extensions were also made to the current squad. Whelan signs up for another year, while Rastoll, Ford and Pearce are all rewarded with contracts until 2008.

3/12/05

Gander Green Lane, Sutton – Att: 424
Sutton United v Havant & Waterlooville (Conference South)

Young Hall was given an immediate debut in place of Law, but was put well and truly in the shade by his strike partner today. James Flood scored early on to put us in front, capping off a neat passing move with a well taken strike. Hall then made it to the area only to be brought down and earn us a penalty, which Flood converted with ease to double the lead.

Sutton clearly couldn’t handle Flood and he added a third to complete his hat-trick before half time. Three was quite enough for the win and we made it seven league wins in a row, seven clean sheets in a row, and even climbed a point above Maidenhead at the top of the table.

Sutton Utd 0 Havant & W 3 (Flood 9, pen 15, 32)
Stiel 7, Savage 8, Wallis-Taylor 8, Wicks 8, Whelan 8, Ford 8, Lopez 8, Rastoll 8, Jordan 8, Hall 8, Flood 10
Man of the Match: James Flood (Havant & W)