retired_edmari

10/12/05

Woodspring Park, Weston-super-Mare – Att: 721
Weston-super-Mare v Havant & Waterlooville (Conference South)

Another emphatic win kept us clear of Weymouth, who won their game in hand midweek, on goal difference. Once more the game was won by half time, with two more from the impressive Flood. He grabbed his 11th of the season just 24 seconds into the match and added another just before the break to make it 3-0. Midway through the first half Mark Hall had opened his account for our second of the afternoon.

Chris Lewis pulled one back for the hosts 20 minutes into the second half, which was in fairness a deserved goal with Weston-super-Mare giving us more of a challenge then any other team in recent weeks.

The match in fact was very even. The same number of attempts on goal each, and 51-49 possession, but we wrapped up an excellent win with a superb Rastoll effort minutes from time.

Weston-super-Mare 1 (Lewis 66) Havant & W 4 (Flood 1, 45, Hall 20, Rastoll 88)
Stiel 8, Savage 8, Wallis-Taylor 9, Wicks 8, Whelan 9, Ford 8, Lopez 8, Rastoll 8, Jordan 8, Hall 8, Flood 10
Man of the Match: James Flood (Havant & W)


11/12/05

Matthew Ghent went to the local press complaining about his lack of first team opportunities. I called our sub keeper into my office and informed him that he will get a chance if he impresses in training, but remains our backup for the time being. Matt responded quite positively and publicly declared he would push himself harder in training from now on.

17/12/05

Penydarren Park, Merthyr Tydfil – Att: 173
Merthyr Tydfil v Havant & Waterlooville (FA Trophy First Round)

Once again facing lower league opposition we went into this match as favourites to turn out as victors.

James Flood continued more of his awesome form with an early strike to put us ahead. We dominated much of the first half and should’ve gone further in front but for some good goalkeeping from Lee Worgan, but eventually doubled the lead with Mark Ford heading in Rastoll’s pinpoint cross.

The second half was less exciting as both sides struggled to break forward, but the hosts made the most of it, with Craig Steins pulling them back into the match 15 minutes from time. Steins scored again deep into injury time, but to the dismay of the home fans his second effort was ruled offside and we moved into the Second Round.

Merthyr Tydfil 1 (Steins 77) Havant & W 2 (Flood 3, Ford 43)
Stiel 6, Savage 7, Wallis-Taylor 7, Wicks 7, Whelan 7, Ford 7, Lopez 7, Rastoll 6, Jordan 7, Hall 7, Flood 7
Man of the Match: Phil Whelan (Havant & W)


18/12/05

Liverpool secured the Club World Championship in Yokohama today with a 1-0 win over Säo Paulo FC. Fernando Morientes scored the late winner to bring the trophy to England.

20/12/05

In the second round draw of the FA Trophy we were given a tough visit to Conference side Crawley, who are currently flying high in second place in said division. Despite our form the bookies are already writing off our chances of making it any further than that match in 4 weeks time.

retired_edmari

21/12/05

Westleigh Park, Havant – Att: 1,455
Havant & Waterlooville v Eastbourne Borough (Conference South)

Our final match before taking a little time off for Christmas gave us something to celebrate while we enjoy the turkey on Sunday afternoon. The Sports barely had a look in as we eased to a 2-0 victory to stay at the top of the table.

Rastoll gave us the lead just before the break, perhaps his last act for a while after he left the field with fractured ribs, which’ll keep him out for at least a month. Nevertheless we didn’t struggle against Boro’s ten men – Stuart Tuck had been sent off just three minutes in.

Mark Ford made it certain just before the end, with a cracking shot from the edge of the box that nearly burst through Lee Hook’s net.

Havant & W 2 (Rastoll 43, Ford 88) Eastbourne Boro 0
Stiel 7, Savage 7, Wallis-Taylor 9, Wicks 8, Whelan 7, Ford 8, Lopez 7 (Town 45, 6), Rastoll 8 (Taggart 76, 7), Jordan 6 (Pearce 45, 7), Hall 8, Flood 7
Man of the Match: Sebastian Wallis-Taylor (Havant & W)


26/12/05

Westleigh Park, Havant – Att: 1,453
Havant & Waterlooville v Maidenhead United (Conference South)

Sorry Maidenhead were left nursing a Christmas hangover after a Boxing Day horror show at Westleigh Park. The side who were just a few weeks ago keeping us and Weymouth off the top fell apart to continue their slide out of the top 5 in the division.

Flood started the show with a super solo effort early on, closely followed by a second from new boy Mark Hall. Flood added another soon after, volleying in Taggart’s corner from the edge of the box. There was more than enough time for us to ease further ahead before the break, this time Lopez heading in Whelan’s long pass to make it four.

Lopez added his second immediately after the break, after the midfielder intercepted a poor pass in defence and sent the ball towards the bottom corner.

Five would be enough, and the loss of Phil Whelan to a late red card did little to dampen the high spirits on the pitch as we strolled to our biggest win yet, and our tenth league victory in a row.

Havant & W 5 (Flood 10, 26, Hall 15, Lopez 38, 46) Maidenhead 0
Stiel 8, Savage 7, Wallis-Taylor 9, Wicks 9, Whelan 8, Ford 8, Lopez 10, Taggart 9, Jordan 8, Hall 9, Flood 10 (Law 81, 6)
Man of the Match: Guy Lopez (Havant & W)

27/12/05

Tony Taggart will be leaving in the summer, after refusing to sign a new deal with us due to first team action being restricted by the excellent Rastoll. The 24 year old winger will move up to Scarborough in June, where we could well meet him again judging by the current league standings.

2/1/06

Westleigh Park, Havant – Att: 1,544
Havant & Waterlooville v Welling United (Conference South)

The new year began with an unconvincing home victory against strugglers Welling, but a victory nonetheless to keep the run going. On top of that, Weymouth finally slipped and drew to slip a couple of points behind us.

We struggled to make many chances for ourselves during the first period, and came close to going behind to the visitors on a couple of occasions.

In the second half we were the better side though and took the lead when James Flood dispossessed Vince Bartram on the edge of his area and found the empty net. Welling’s chances faded when Leon Solomon took an early bath and we defended well enough to hold on to the 1-0 win.

Havant & W 1 (Flood 52) Welling 0
Stiel 7, Savage 6, Wallis-Taylor 8, Wicks 7, Pearce 7, Ford 6, Lopez 8, Taggart 7, Jordan 7, Hall 7, Flood 8
Man of the Match: Guy Lopez (Havant & W)

retired_edmari

4/1/06

Bridge Road, Cambridge – Att: 542
Histon v Havant & Waterlooville (Conference South)

Our second game in 48 hours saw our first defeat in quite some time. The lads were clearly worn out as the match drew on. We dominated, particularly during the second half, but simply couldn’t create the type of chances we normally put away with ease.

The only goal came midway through the first half, courtesy of Stephen Morris, and sent us sliding to just our third league defeat so far.

Histon 1 (Morris 24) Havant & W 0
Stiel 6, Town 6, Wallis-Taylor 7, Wicks 6, Pearce 7, Ford 6, Lopez 6, Taggart 7, Jordan 7, Law 6, Flood 7
Man of the Match: Lance Key (Histon)


7/1/06

Ship Lane, Thurrock – Att: 185
Thurrock v Havant & Waterlooville (Conference South)

We visited the bottom side in our bid to get quickly back to winning ways on the afternoon that marked the halfway stage of our league campaign.

With Flood on the bench due to tiredness we were found wanting up front, and struggled to trouble them during the first half. After the first 45 they’d barely troubled us but an embarrassing 0-0 was looking more and more likely with every missed opportunity.

Flood came off the bench after the interval and we immediately looked a lot sharper, taking the lead shortly after the break with Jordan nodding in a corner. We were all over the bottom side and should’ve won by a few more but it took until the final minute of injury time to wrap up the win, with Flood capping his man of the match performance with yet another goal.

Thurrock 0 Havant & W 2 (Jordan 50, Flood 90)
Stiel 7, Town 8, Wallis-Taylor 7, Whelan 8, Pearce 7, Ford 7, Lopez 8, Taggart 7, Jordan 8, Law 6 (Flood 45, 9), Hall 7
Man of the Match: James Flood (Havant & W)

So after 21 games, we were sitting pretty in second place at the moment, just a point shy of leaders Weymouth, and five points clear of third place. To be second with 46 points was a tad disappointing – we’d be half a dozen points clear in the Conference North. But hey ho.


10/1/06

Wessex Stadium, Weymouth – Att: 965
Weymouth v Havant & Waterlooville (Conference South)

We might be talking 20 games in advance here, but this might just be the match that decides who’s playing in the league above come August. If it is, I’ll be writing something of a thank you note to today’s referee, Paul Norman.

The ref first earned his fans among us when he disallowed an early Weymouth effort, stopping us from being out of the game before we’d even really started. After a while we eventually started playing proper football and after some thrilling play we eventually stole the lead through Tony Taggart’s close range strike.

The lead never looked like lasting as the hosts kept Stiel and my defence very busy indeed throughout the second half, eventually leveling the match with an Eribenne effort midway through the half. Eribenne then proceeded to have two goals disallowed by our new friend the ref, before Flood secured the three points with ten minutes to spare.

We knew we shouldn’t be just yet, but this victory was celebrated as if we’d won the title today.

Weymouth 1 (Eribenne 70) Havant & W 2 (Taggart 37, Flood 78)
Stiel 7, Savage 7, Briscoe 7 (Poate 71, 7), Whelan 7, Pearce 7, Ford 8, Lopez 8, Taggart 7, Jordan 8, Flood 8, Hall 7 (Law 71, 7)
Man of the Match: Chukki Eribenne (Weymouth)



14/1/06

Broadfield Stadium, Crawley – Att: 377
Crawley Town v Havant & Waterlooville (FA Trophy Second Round)

Top of the Conference Crawley were always going to be a difficult task, and sadly our challenge for the FA Trophy ended here.

We gave the perhaps-League Two-bound side a tough game, particularly during the first half, but they held out to eventually tear through us in the final half an hour. Ian Simpemba put the home side ahead on 62, and Omari Coleman scored to double the lead just moments after we’d struck the post in search of an equaliser.

We continued to press to get back into the match but never had the cutting edge up front, and Crawley managed a flattering scoreline with one more in the last minutes.

Crawley 3 (Simpemba 62, Coleman 74, Burton 90) Havant & W 0
Stiel 5, Savage 6, Wallis-Taylor 6, Whelan 6, Wicks 7, Ford 7 (Pearce 60, 7), Lopez 7, Taggart 6, Jordan 6, Flood 7, Hall 7 (Law 60, 6)
Man of the Match: Sacha Opinel (Crawley)

retired_edmari

18/1/06

Westleigh Park, Havant – Att: 1,523
Havant & Waterlooville v Carshalton Athletic (Conference South)

Fortunately we had a relatively ‘easy’ match to hopefully regain some confidence after the failure at Crawley. We also now had to keep the momentum going after getting past Weymouth.

We certainly ran the play and were much the better side but simply couldn’t score, eventually only winning by a single goal, scored by wing back Wallis-Taylor, the Frenchman’s first goal in an excellent personal season.

Havant & W 1 (Wallis-Taylor 63) Carshalton 0
Stiel 6, Savage 6, Wallis-Taylor 7, Whelan 7, Wicks 8, Ford 6, Lopez 6, Poate 7, Jordan 7, Flood 7, Hall 7
Man of the Match: Emmanuel Boyd (Carshalton)


21/1/06

The Camrose, Basingstoke – Att: 295
Basingstoke Town v Havant & Waterlooville (Conference South)

So far, this was already our seventh match in January, and it was getting more apparent that we could do with a rest. Again we struggled to turn possession and chances into goals, and in today’s case a win.

We took an early lead through Flood, and did well to hold onto it. Rhys Stephens in particular was awesome for the hosts and unlucky on a number of occasions. In fact for the first time in a while – barring Crawley – we were probably the worse side here.

A draw was a fair result, and was secured through Stephens towards the end of the match. Fair maybe, useful it isn’t.

Basingstoke 1 (Stephens 80) Havant & W 1 (Flood 14)
Stiel 6, Savage 6, Wallis-Taylor 8, Whelan 6, Wicks 6, Ford 6, Lopez 6, Poate 6, Jordan 7, Flood 7, Hall 7
Man of the Match: Sebastian Wallis-Taylor (Havant & W)


28/1/06

The Warren, Hayes – Att: 179
Yeading v Havant & Waterlooville (Conference South)

How wrong was I in thinking that a week off would do us good in our title bid. Finally having seven days between games seemed to ruin us as we threw away the points against struggling Ding.

A relatively dull match was settled in the first half, with player-boss Hippolyte putting his side ahead, before Paul Burrows added another shortly after. On top of the rather pathetic display, we lost Flood to injury during the second half, but fortunately the top scorer will only miss a few days of training and may even be back in the side on Tuesday night.

Yeading 2 (Hippolyte 25, Burrows 30) Havant & W 0
Stiel 5, Savage 7, Wallis-Taylor 7, Whelan 6, Wicks 6, Ford 6, Lopez 6, Taggart 6, Jordan 5, Flood 6 (Law 63, 7), Hall 6
Man of the Match: Charlie Mapes (Yeading)


31/1/06

Westleigh Park, Havant – Att: 1,236
Havant & Waterlooville v Bishop’s Stortford (Conference South)

The continuing tug-of-war at the top went on as we won to skip ahead of Weymouth once more. We also stretched the distance between us and our opposition today, who sit in third, to double figures.

It took some doing but eventually we managed to get the points with a single goal, a beautifully struck free kick from Taggart. In the first half we should’ve already been ahead with Savage missing a penalty and Law having a nicely taken goal ruled offside – not a decision many agreed with.

The visitors gave us a few late scares after Wallis-Taylor was shown his second yellow and left the pitch, but we managed to hold on to all three points.

Havant & W 1 (Taggart 50) Bishop’s Stortford 0
Stiel 7, Savage 7, Wallis-Taylor 6, Whelan 7, Wicks 8, Lopez 8, Harber 7, Taggart 8, Jordan 7, Law 7, Hall 7
Man of the Match: Guy Lopez (Havant & W)

retired_edmari

8/2/06

Westleigh Park, Havant – Att: 1,241
Havant & Waterlooville v Newport County (Conference South)

This season was drifting back to the period when we kept winning 1-0. We were getting the points but we were making tough work for ourselves in the process and I wasn’t happy until the final whistle broke the nervous silence in the dugout.

For now though, where we were staying ‘ahead’ (we’re two points clear but they have a game in hand to us), I really won’t complain. Every point was so, so precious in the hunt for a place in the Conference next term.

A dull first half produced no goals, but we went ahead early in the second with Ford showing Savage how it’s done and converting a penalty after Gareth Warton had handballed. Newport only created themselves a couple of chances, but made the most of them and brought the scores level when Matt Green made it 1-1 20 minutes from time.

Law made a good impact off the bench though and capped off his day by heading in Taggart’s corner late in the day. It was nervy, it was a pain in the arse, but it was three more points.

Havant & W 2 (Ford pen 56, Law 83) Newport Co (Green 73)
Stiel 7, Savage 8, Briscoe 7, Whelan 7, Wicks 7, Ford 8, Lopez 7, Taggart 6, Jordan 7, Flood 5, Hall 6 (Law 45, 7)
Man of the Match: Mark Ford (Havant & W)


11/2/06

Westleigh Park, Havant – Att: 1,532
Havant & Waterlooville v Farnborough Town (Conference South)

This’ll go down as one of the slightly lucky ones. Stiel was injured during the first half and replaced by veteran Howells, with Ghent already out injured.

An uninspiring first half kept the score 0-0, but we lost Whelan to a red card just before the break. Lopez scored to put us ahead early in the second half, and Ford put in a cracker 15 minutes later to double the lead and seemingly secure the match.

However all was not over yet, with Howells dramatically sent off in the dying minutes. Flood replaced him in goal but failed to keep out Michael Charles’ penalty, and we held on to win 2-1 with our nine men. If only Weymouth could lie down and die at some point, we’d be sitting rather pretty by now.

Ghent will be out for a couple of weeks yet, Howells is now suspended, and Stiel will miss up to two months. We now have the somewhat more than minor problem of having no goalkeeper for our next match.

Havant & W 2 (Lopez 50, Ford 66) Farnborough 1 (Charles pen 90)
Stiel 6 (Howells 21, 6), Savage 6, Wallis-Taylor 8, Whelan 5, Wicks 7, Ford 7, Lopez 7, Taggart 6, Jordan 7, Flood 7, Hall 8
Man of the Match: Sebastian Wallis-Taylor (Havant & W)


18/2/06

Ten Acres, Eastleigh – Att: 1,151
Eastleigh v Havant & Waterlooville (Conference South)

We went into this match with a couple of lads from the youth team taking the goalkeeping places in the sixteen, with Richard Benson taking his place between the sticks for us today.

The poor lad didn’t have the best of days, allowing the hosts to lead when Pearce put the ball into his own net. Minutes later Benson was sent from the field after bringing down Stuart Douglas. Ryan Ashford happily put the penalty past Steve Buckley, but fortunately, even with the reserve youth keeper, we kept the scoreline respectable and only went down 2-0.

The defeat was somewhat expected but still a kick to our collective nuts in our hunt for the title.

Eastleigh 2 (Pearce og 25, Ashford pen 34) Havant & W 0
Benson 3, Savage 5, Briscoe 6, Pearce 6, Wicks 7, Ford 7, Lopez 6, Taggart 6, Jordan 6 (Buckley 33, 6), Flood 7, Hall 6
Man of the Match: Malcolm Rigby (Eastleigh)

retired_edmari

25/2/06

Westleigh Park, Havant – Att: 1,320
Havant & Waterlooville v Hayes (Conference South)

Benson once again appeared between the sticks as Howells suffered a minor injury to keep us keeper-less for another week.

Fortunately this week he improved on last time, even managing to keep a clean sheet against struggling Hayes. At the other end two goals were enough to keep us chasing rivals Weymouth at the top, with Tom Jordan heading in the first of them shortly before the break.

After thoroughly dominating Hayes throughout most of the match the three points was well deserved, and were secured by a Flood strike – his 20th of the season in all competitions, and 15th in the league – near the end of the 90 minutes.

Havant & W 2 (Jordan 41, Flood 84) Hayes 0
Benson 7, Savage 7, Briscoe 9, Pearce 8, Wicks 7, Ford 7, Lopez 7, Taggart 7, Jordan 7, Flood 8, Hall 7
Man of the Match: Lee Briscoe (Havant & W)


4/3/06

Nyewood Lane, Bognor Regis – Att: 184
Bognor Regis Town v Havant & Waterlooville (Conference South)

We needed to keep picking up the points as we edged into the final weeks of the league season, and obliged by grabbing three more here.

The first half was quite dull but suggested a close encounter against our south coast rivals, but in the second we improved dramatically and once again scored twice to keep the title race a two horse one.

Flood added yet another to his ever increasing tally early in the second half, and Hall confirmed the win 20 minutes from time. Matthew Wicks was taken off injured early on, and will miss the rest of the season after injuring his hip. Today did however see winger Rastoll return to the first eleven after his time out injured, and while he put in an unspectacular performance it was pleasant to see him back in the Havant colours.

Bognor Regis 0 Havant & W 2 (Flood 52, Hall 69)
Howells 7, Savage 7, Wallis-Taylor 8, Whelan 7, Wicks 6 (Pearce 18, 7), Ford 7, Lopez 7, Rastoll 6, Jordan 7, Flood 8, Hall 7
Man of the Match: Sebastian Wallis-Taylor (Havant & W)


11/3/06

Westleigh Park, Havant – Att:1,549
Havant & Waterlooville v St Albans City (Conference South)

On my 31st birthday I hoped for more of a present, to be honest, but this’ll have to do. Paul Hakim put the visiting side ahead with just over a quarter of an hour played, and they managed to stay ahead much longer than they should with two disallowed goals from Flood.

Flood eventually had one accepted just before half time, and we were finally on level terms once more.

The second half was some classic end to end stuff as we hunted a winner, and we eventually took a deserved lead with a stunning Ford free kick 15 minutes from time, but just moments later Fyfe sent us back to square one. It finished 2-2 and we slipped to three points off the top with just 10 games to go now.

Havant & W 2 (Flood 42, Ford 75) St Albans 2 (Hakim 17, Fyfe 77)
Ghent 6, Savage 6, Wallis-Taylor 8, Whelan 5, Pearce 7, Ford 8, Lopez 7 (Town 60, 6), Rastoll 6, Jordan 6, Flood 7, Hall 7
Man of the Match: Sebastian Wallis-Taylor (Havant & W)

retired_edmari

18/3/06

Westleigh Park, Havant – Att: 1,551
Havant & Waterlooville v Dorchester Town (Conference South)

With Weymouth not playing until midweek we had a chance to close the gap at the top to merely goal difference and maybe step ahead, for a few days at least.

We happily did so with a routine victory against playoff hopefuls Dorchester, who put up little fight as we strolled to a 2-0 home win.

Ford scored from the spot just 9 minutes in after Flood had been fouled, and Flood was unlucky not to add to the scoresheet moments later with a stunning 30 yard volley screaming just over the bar. We almost conceded with Ghent playing some stupid game taking control of the ball as far as the centre circle, but fortunately the quickfire shot after he was dispossessed flew harmlessly wide.

Flood doubled the lead midway through the second half with a neat finish and Hall had one disallowed as we pushed aside Dorchester to mathematically secure a top half finish at the very, very least.

Sadly, Weymouth won midweek to ease ahead once more and keep the fight going for a little while yet.

Havant & W 2 (Ford pen 9, Flood 68) Dorchester 0
Ghent 7, Savage 7, Wallis-Taylor 7, Whelan 7, Pearce 7, Ford 8, Lopez 8, Rastoll 6, Jordan 7, Flood 8, Hall 7
Man of the Match: Mark Ford (Havant & W)


25/3/06

City Ground, Cambridge – Att: 324
Cambridge City v Havant & Waterlooville (Conference South)

A poor display saw our season take some major damage up in Cambridge. Matt Hallett put them ahead early on with an excellent free kick and we never looked like pulling it back.

We equalized through Flood after half an hour but continued to struggle in front of goal, and were lucky to see Ricky James’ goal disallowed near the end.

Again Weymouth had the afternoon off, and will play later in the week, but this time they’ll have the advantage of already being two points clear at the top. However the disappointing result does secure us a playoff place barring a huge shock.

Cambridge City 1 (Hallett 8) Havant & W 1 (Flood 32)
Ghent 7, Savage 7, Wallis-Taylor 8, Whelan 7, Pearce 6, Ford 7, Lopez 7, Rastoll 6 (Taggart 67, 6), Jordan 7, Flood 8, Hall 7 (Law 31, 7)
Man of the Match: James Flood (Havant & W)


31/3/06

Weymouth had won to cruise five points clear and make life very difficult for us, but the powers that be were clearly chuffed nonetheless.

I was offered a new contract, extending my stay here until 2009, complete with a hefty pay rise to £400 per week. Needless to say, I was similarly chuffed. Peter Demott stated he was sure the agreement would delight the fans and staff as it did himself, while Brett Poate stepped forward to represent the players in announcing his delight at my signing of a new deal.

1/4/06

The Dripping Pan, Lewes – Att: 192
Lewes v Havant & Waterlooville (Conference South)

Flood helped me celebrate my new deal with three more points against Lewes. The star striker took his season’s tally past the quarter-century with a goal either side of the break to put us 2-0 ahead here.

Clovis Konsodiani-Kanda pulled one back for the hosts towards the end but despite a few chances they couldn’t improve on that single consolation goal, and we secured all the three points in our desperate attempt to chase the title.

Lewes 1 (Konsodiani-Kanda 75) Havant & W 2 (Flood 33, 49)
Ghent 7, Savage 7, Briscoe 8, Whelan 8, Pearce 7, Ford 7, Lopez 8, Rastoll 7, Jordan 8, Flood 9, Law 7
Man of the Match: James Flood (Havant & W)

retired_edmari

4/4/06

Westleigh Park, Havant – Att: 1,367
Havant & Waterlooville v Sutton United (Conference South)

Having beaten them 3-0 back in December away from home, we were surely confident of picking up another three points and continuing our endless chasing of Weymouth.

Lopez scored with our first shot of the game to prove that confidence well founded, but turned villain by pulling down Jones Awuah in our area. Defender Steve George stepped up to level the match at 1-1. We regained the lead just before the break, with Rastoll firing in from the edge of the box. The Frenchman finally looked back in his good form following a few quiet matches since his return from injury.

The lead was extended further by a stunner from Tom Jordan. The Scottish defender took control of the ball by the half way line, and spotting the keeper well off his line fired in his third goal from over 40 yards. It wasn’t quite over yet, as George scored another penalty moments later.

Hall had a late strike disallowed and we faced a lot of pressure as the visitors searched for a point, but we’d just done enough in this tightly fought match to pick up all three.

Havant & W 3 (Lopez 6, Rastoll 45, Jordan 58) Sutton Utd 2 (George pen 9, pen 60)
Ghent 6, Savage 7, Wallis-Taylor 7, Whelan 5, Pearce 7, Ford 7, Lopez 8, Rastoll 7, Jordan 6, Flood 8, Hall 7
Man of the Match: James Flood (Havant & W)


8/4/06

Priory Lane, Eastbourne – Att: 178
Eastbourne Borough v Havant & Waterlooville (Conference South)

With just 3 weeks and half a dozen matches to go we continued doing our part in chasing the title, but Weymouth just won’t do theirs. Two goals in injury time saw them come from behind to win 3-2 at Histon, and that late, late show really made it look like it just wasn’t going to be for us.

Nevertheless, we picked up another close 3-2 win here, but this was easier work and the scoreline should have been more distant. Law’s goal from a difficult angle started us off, with Rastoll adding another soon after. Scott Ramsay tapped in a rebound to pull one back for the hosts, and Ford then missed a penalty to leave several heads in hands around the ground.

Flood scored halfway through the second half, which took the points safely out of Eastbourne’s reach. They gave us a late scare, pulling back again with another strike from Ramsay, but again we’d done enough to take the points home.

Eastbourne Boro 2 (Ramsay 30, 90) Havant & W 3 (Law 21, Rastoll 27, Flood 65)
Stiel 6, Savage 8, Wallis-Taylor 8, Whelan 7, Pearce 7, Ford 7, Lopez 7, Rastoll 7, Jordan 7, Flood 7, Law 7
Man of the Match: Sebastian Wallis-Taylor (Havant & W)

15/4/06

Westleigh Park, Havant – Att: 1,524
Havant & Waterlooville v Weston-super-Mare (Conference South)

Weston-super-Mare’s hopes of climbing into the playoffs took a dent with a routine victory for us to add another three points to a total greater than that of the leader in each league barring Nottingham Forest in League One – and of course Weymouth.

We can do little than keep on winning though, so the 2-0 win was very welcome indeed, and secured by half time with goals from Law and Lopez, the latter a stunner from 25 yards.

That short period where we took those chances and won the match was about the most exciting part of the match. Neither side gave the other much chance to progress forward from midfield, starving the quality strikers on show of much opportunity to show their skills.

Fortunately though we managed to make the most of our quiet afternoon up front, and were delighted to hear that mid-table Welling had done the business at Weymouth, also winning 2-0. With just four games left, the lead was 2 points, and the goal difference was just 3 goals in their favour.

Havant & W 2 (Law 16, Lopez 24) Weston-super-Mare 0
Stiel 7, Town 7, Wallis-Taylor 8, Whelan 7, Pearce 8, Ford 7, Lopez 7, Rastoll 6, Jordan 7, Flood 7, Law 7
Man of the Match: Sam Pearce (Havant & W)

retired_edmari

17/4/06

Westleigh Park, Havant – Att: 1,475
Havant & Waterlooville v Histon (Conference South)

The fat lady cleared her lungs in our penultimate home match as we slumped to a disappointing draw where we should have won but for some determined defending from the visitors.

The first half was nothing special, but we managed to go into the break ahead when Law stormed in to meet a Corbett cross. To be honest, it looked enough to win against a side poor going forward, but they leveled early in the second half when Whelan was caught napping in defence for Dominic Sheppard to skip through and make it one each.

We charged in on their goal throughout the last fifteen minutes or so, but with most of their side gathering desperately in defence to keep the draw we failed to add anything and left with a single point, allowing Weymouth to creep four points clear again. On the plus side, we secured the place as runners-up at worst.

Havant & W 1 (Law 36) Histon 1 (Sheppard 55)
Stiel 7, Corbett 7, Wallis-Taylor 7, Whelan 6, Pearce 7, Ford 7, Lopez 7, Rastoll 6 (Taggart 56, 6), Jordan 6, Flood 6, Law 8
Man of the Match: Lance Key (Histon)


22/4/06

Park View Road, Welling – Att: 837
Welling United v Havant & Waterlooville (Conference South)

And so the challenge ends. The team who last week beat our rivals to allow us within a whisker cruelly stole it from us as we crashed to defeat.

Weymouth’s 3-0 win over Carshalton took them seven points away with just a couple of matches left, while Danny Kedwell fired two past us to cancel out Law’s first half strike.

It was naturally disappointing to lose out at this stage when we’d been so close, especially as we would be 17 points clear if we moved up north, as the mood after the game showed, but now we had to prepare for the two or three extra matches after next Saturday.

Welling 2 (Kedwell 60, 77) Havant & W 1 (Law 23)
Stiel 5, Corbett 6, Wallis-Taylor 7, Whelan 7, Pearce 6, Ford 7, Lopez 7, Rastoll 7, Jordan 6, Flood 7, Law 7
Man of the Match: Jamie Day (Welling)


25/4/06

York Road, Maidenhead – Att: 1,621
Maidenhead United v Havant & Waterlooville (Conference South)

Our penultimate match saw us meet one of the three sides battling for the final unconfirmed place in the playoffs, and we made light work of showing them what they could be in for should we meet again.

The scoring was over fairly quickly, with us having done enough to take the points in the first 15 minutes. Rastoll fired in after a one-two with Flood had beaten the last defender with ease, and then the roles reversed for Rastoll to cross into Flood for the striker to tap in his 28th of the season.

The uneventful second half left the scores at 2-0, and Maidenhead dropped to 6th, left to battle with Lewes on the final day for 5th place.

Maidenhead 0 Havant & W 2 (Rastoll 6, Flood 14)
Stiel 7, Corbett 6, Briscoe 7, Whelan 7, Pearce 7, Ford 7, Lopez 7, Rastoll 7, Jordan 7, Flood 8, Law 7
Man of the Match: James Flood (Havant & W)


29/4/06

Westleigh Park, Havant – Att: 330
Havant & Waterlooville v Thurrock (Conference South)

It looked like the loss of the title fight had sent the fan base packing, as we drew over 700 less than our average for the season through the gates. They missed an exciting win that finished our league season as nicely as possible.

Thurrock had done well to escape the relegation scrap and climb towards mid-table, but provided little match for us and left themselves with too much to do after Purdie was red-carded early on. Corbett scored the first with what looked more like a cross being deflected into the net, and Flood confirmed it, calmly rounding the keeper to tap into an empty net.

Another 2-0 victory was safe with our defence again solid enough to keep the opposition at bay, and we finished second with 92 points, joining Bishop’s Stortford, Dorchester and Lewes in the playoffs. Pleasingly, we have been undefeated against all three of those this season, winning five and drawing 0-0 in the first match against Bishop’s Stortford.

Still, nothing’s certain yet.

Havant & W 2 (Corbett 18, Flood 45) Thurrock 0
Stiel 7, Corbett 8, Briscoe 8, Whelan 7, Pearce 7, Ford 7, Lopez 8, Rastoll 6, Jordan 7 (Gray 25, 7), Flood 8, Law 7
Man of the Match: Guy Lopez (Havant & W)



1/5/06

The playoff draw pits us against fifth placed Lewes in the semi final, with the first leg at home on Thursday night. The second leg will take place in Lewes on Sunday evening.

retired_edmari

4/5/06

Westleigh Park, Havant – Att: 1,704
Havant & Waterlooville v Lewes (Conference South Playoff Semi Final, Leg 1)

We bounced back from the disappointment of losing out on the title, and then some, against Lewes in the first leg of this tie.

A place in the final was all but booked following the emphatic win as we did nothing but attack, attack and attack some more against the opposition, restricting them to just 2 attempts on goal. Ford started the cheers with another of his superb free kicks, and would’ve doubled the lead but for a foul seeing it disallowed.

Law was next to get in on the act, scoring from the edge of the box with a well placed strike into the bottom corner. The mood at half time was certainly buoyant, and we took it into the second half with Flood adding to the lead shortly before being substituted to keep him fit for Sunday’s return leg. Flood’s well taken effort was his 30th of the term.

Lopez finished the rout, knocking in a fourth to redeem himself after missing a couple of golden opportunities earlier.

Havant & W 4 (Ford 17, Law 31, Flood 56, Lopez 72) Lewes 0
Stiel 7, Town 8, Briscoe 8, Whelan 8, Pearce 9, Ford 8, Lopez 8, Rastoll 7, Wallis-Taylor 7 (Sharp 68, 6), Flood 8 (Wilson-Denis 68, 6), Law 9
Man of the Match: Sam Pearce (Havant & W)


7/5/06

The Dripping Pan, Lewes – Att: 1,177
Lewes v Havant & Waterlooville (Conference South Playoff Semi Final, Leg 2)

Lewes’ season officially fell to pieces as we completed another simple win to destroy their hopes and progress to the final, just 90 minutes from promotion.

Leon Legge gave us an advantage by getting sent off after just a few minutes, and we wrapped everything up before half time. Ford hit in another stunning free kick, sandwiched between a brace from the ever improving Law, who’s really impressed at this late stage of the season.

We strolled onto the final, where we’ll meet Bishop’s Stortford, who overcame Dorchester with a 1-1 away draw to clinch a 4-3 win overall. Saturday’s match could be tough based on our previous meetings this season, but after the manner of the last two games I’ll be quietly confident for sure.

Lewes 0 Havant & W 3 (Law 27, 41, Ford 37) (0-7 on aggregate)
Stiel 8, Town 8, Briscoe 8, Whelan 7, Pearce 8, Ford 8, Lopez 7, Rastoll 8, Wallis-Taylor 7, Flood 8, Law 9
Man of the Match: Gareth Law (Havant & W)


13/5/06

Church Road, Hayes – Att: 2,710
Bishop’s Stortford v Havant & Waterlooville (Conference South Playoff Final)

Despite easing past Lewes this was never going to be as easy, with both defences very strong and having just a single goal seen in our two league matches.

A close match it most certainly was, and not one for the faint of heart. To be honest the 90 minutes were relatively dull, with the few chances created being kept out by two keepers on hot form, in Stiel and Danny Gay.

The match remained goalless and went into a further 30 minutes of play, with both sides suddenly creating more up front as the legs at the back grew more and more tired as the game wore on. We were hit worse in the last moments following Savage’s red card after 109 minutes, that left us exposed down the right. Only the goalkeepers stood firm, desperately saving anything thrown at them to keep their side’s hopes alive.

It wasn’t a match that deserved to be decided by the penalty shootout lottery, but it would be so. Stiel or Gay would be a hero within a few minutes.

Gay claimed it first, saving from the normally reliable Ford first, after David Whittle had scored the opening kick. Gwillim was up next, and Stiel dived low to keep out his effort, before Flood scored to level the scoring. Mervin Abraham and Mark Hall both scored their spot kicks, before Stiel saved again from Steve Morison. Taggart then put us 3-2 ahead with one penalty each remaining. It was sudden death.

Howell scored to keep his side in it, and Gay took it past the standard five penalties with a good save from Law. That proved the first of four great saves in a row as the keepers left everyone else in the ground nervous. Paul Martin and Andrew Hodges, and Whelan for us were those who missed. Stiel had done his duty and surely retired on a high note, and he was to be the hero of the shootout with four saves. Sam Pearce, young enough to be his son, also gained such a status, firing the final penalty into the top corner to send us up into the Conference. The coaches and subs shot out of the dugout onto the pitch, while many of the fans attempted to follow, as I was fixed to my seat. As skipper Phil Whelan handed me the trophy when I finally stepped across the pitch, I could scarcely believe I had done it. This tiny little club had taken it’s first step towards the big time, and I was the man that brought it about.

Bishop’s Stortford 0 Havant & W 0 (3-4 on penalties)
Stiel 8, Savage 5, Briscoe 7 (Taggart 84, 7), Whelan 7, Pearce 7, Ford 7, Lopez 7 (Hall 106, 6), Rastoll 6, Wallis-Taylor 7, Flood 6, Law 7
Man of the Match: Jörg Stiel (Havant & W)