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Adams spot on as United battle to vital win - 29/3/08

United moved four points clear of the Premier Division relegation zone, and into fourteenth place in the table, their highest position since the end of November, after an early Sam Adams penalty sealed only their second away league win of the campaign in a mighty relegation battle at Heybridge this afternoon. Playing with the wind in the first half, United were good value for their interval lead, having kept their hosts pinned back in their own half for long periods. Swifts were much more of a force after the break though, when a superb double save by Lee Worgan, and the crossbar, helped United survive one desperate scramble in their own area, as they fought valiantly to claim all three points.

Following the demolition of Folkestone on Easter Monday, there was little likelihood of seeing wholesale changes to the United line-up for their first ever visit to Scraley Road, and manager Tony Dolby surprised no one by naming the same starting eleven, with late hattrick hero Frankie Sawyer again named on the bench, where the sole amendment saw Danny Spice omitted and assistant manager Mike Rutherford handed the number seventeen shirt. The Swifts starting line-up featured only two of the eleven that began the reverse fixture at the Pilot Field in December, in midfielders Gary Burrell and current skipper Adam Gillespie. Three others had started on the bench for United's 1-0 win that day, although one-time Hastings striker Stafford Browne had today found himself relegated to a place amongst the substitutes. Heybridge had been busy in the transfer market in recent weeks, with six members of their seventeen man squad having joined the club within the last few weeks, including former Croydon Athletic and AFC Wimbledon front man Reggie Savage, and central defensive duo Tom Devaux and Ronnie Jones, signed on loan deals from local Football League sides Southend and Colchester respectively.

Sensibly opting not to play into the teeth of a strong gale in the first half, United made the early running, and played some neat football at times, bringing wingers Russell Eldridge and Steve Elliott into the contest at every opportunity. Russell created the first chance of the game in the fifth minute, blocking Ryan Hull's attempted clearance and sending the ball spinning across the edge of the six yard box, but keeper Ollie Morris-Sanders was able to gather before Steve could profit from the moment of fortune. At the other end, George Lay volleyed over after United had only partially cleared a Jordan Collins corner, but United were generally in control of the early exchanges, and duly took the lead in the tenth minute, Steve's crossfield pass picking out Ade Olorunda, whose first time lay-off sent Lee Carey bursting clean through into the area, where he was brought down by Devaux's desperate tackle. United understandably seemed to query the referee's curious decision not to show the offender a card of any colour for the apparent professional foul, before Sam stepped up to calmly beat Morris-Sanders from the spot for his twelfth goal of the season, and only United's fourth penalty of the campaign, and their first since 29 September. United retained the upper hand for a further quarter of an hour or so, but without testing Morris-Sanders, and Heybridge slowly began to look more menacing on the counter-attack as the half wore on. There were loud penalty appeals from the home contingent when Savage tumbled over Nathan Simpson's challenge around the half hour mark, the referee deciding that the offence had occurred just outside the corner of the area though, and Collins curled the free kick over Lee Worgan's crossbar. Nathan Russell was the next United defender to give away a free kick in a dangerous position, again for a foul on Savage, but Lay's half-hearted effort was blocked by the wall and United cleared with ease. Ade's break down the left then set up a chance for Lee Carey, but he completely missed his kick, the ball running to Steve for a left foot shot that was comfortably gathered by Morris-Sanders, while the keeper later dealt more awkwardly with Russell's inswinging cross, with Ade heading over at the near post from Russell's ensuing corner. The half ended with a brief flashpoint, following Burrell's late challenge on Tim Olorunda, but the situation was quickly defused. with the Heybridge man collecting the only caution of an encounter played in an otherwise excellent spirit.

The howling gale, and the horizontal driving rain that had accompanied it for a short while, eased somewhat during the interval, and United found the going slightly easier than their hosts had done when the second period got underway. As a consequence, they were able to keep the home side at bay quite comfortably during the first fifteen minutes, whilst posing less of a threat themselves it must be said. Lee Worgan clung onto a long range strike from Burrell, as Heybridge again looked to profit from a Collins corner, but United then went closer to scoring, as Steve broke into the right hand side of the area and drilled in a low cross shot that Devaux did well to clear from inside his own six yard box. In the sixty-ninth minute, the United goal suddenly led a momentary charmed existence, as Burrell sprinted clear of Nathan Simpson down the Heybridge right, cut into the area, and tried to place a right foot shot across Lee Worgan, only to be denied by a superb low save. The rebound eluded Nathan though, allowing Burrell a second attempt, which Lee again did well to block with a strong right hand, the ball this time bouncing up kindly for Sean Marks to send a looping header against the crossbar, with Browne, having only recently come off the bench to replace Savage, missing the target with the home side's fourth effort in a matter of seconds. As if to give Swifts further encouragement in the closing stages, the wind then suddenly got up once again, with Morris-Sanders able to turn defence into attack with the occasional huge clearance, Nathan Russell and Rhys Whyborne both experiencing a testing time in difficult conditions for backpedalling defenders. United still looked to pose a danger to the home defence however, Steve and Ade combining to set up Russell for a powerfully struck left foot shot that Morris-Sanders saved well, and Ade then going close from a narrow angle after more good work from Sam. With less than three minutes remaining, Burrell missed another great chance to equalise, now having switched flanks, running onto Marks' precision pass, but rolling a left foot shot across the face of goal and just wide the upright, with Lee well beaten. And Marks himself wasted the final opening of the match, heading tamely high and wide from Hull's inviting cross, that after Frankie had been denied a sight of goal by Devaux's covering tackle, having initially been released by Steve down the right hand side.

Although the home side certainly had their chances, on balance of play, United can justifiably claim to have deserved to pick up their fourth win in five matches since that sorry defeat at East Thurrock, which seemed to have left their survival hopes hanging by a thread at the time. United now find themselves only three points away from Tony's notional fifty point target to avoid the drop, and they will be looking to achieve that aim by clinching a fifth successive home win, when play-off chasing Hendon visit the Pilot Field next Saturday.

Match facts	Efforts on target	Efforts off target	Free kicks conceded	Corners won	Offsides against
Heybridge Swifts	3	7	9	7	1
Hastings United	4	3	9	3	8

Heybridge Swifts (4-4-2)							Hastings United (4-4-2)
1 Ollie Morris-Sanders							1 Lee Worgan
2 Ryan Hull							2 Jimmy Elford (c)
3 Jordan Collins							3 Nathan Simpson
4 Gary Burrell							4 Rhys Whyborne
5 Tom Devaux							5 Nathan Russell
6 Ronnie Jones							6 Lee Carey
7 George Lay							7 Steve Elliott
8 Adam Gillespie (c)							8 Tim Olorunda
9 Sean Marks							9 Ade Olorunda
10 Reggie Savage							10 Sam Adams
11 David Wareham							11 Russell Eldridge
Substitutes
12 Stafford Browne (for Savage 63)							12 Antonio Gonnella
14 Adam Passfield (for Lay 63)							14 Frankie Sawyer (for Adams 84)
15 Leon Braithwaite (for Wareham 78)							15 Matt Maclean
16 Nathan Clarke							16 Tony Dolby
GK Jamie Bowyer							17 Mike Rutherford

Attendance 239

Referee Mark Bampton

Assistants Paul Quick & Julian Gibbons