Tuesday, August 9, 2011

A goal towards the end of each half from Pat Harding was enough to earn Whitehawk a comfortable looking pre-season victory at the Pilot Field this evening, but although the U's were second best for large parts of the contest, they managed to give their significantly more experienced visitors a few anxious moments, as well as gifting them the goals that ultimately won the game.

Wes Tate returned from injury to lead the line against his former club, and forced Hawks keeper Chris Winterton into an early save after running onto Matt Hall's exquisite pass. The Division One South side made much of the early running though, with Harding clipping the top of the bar with a well struck volley, and full back Craig Richards also hitting the frame of the goal with a header from a Josh Jones corner.

The U's came into the contest in the latter stages of the first half however, Fred Foreman sending a twenty yard free kick just wide, and Ben Billings forcing Winterton into a flying save, only for United to go to sleep at a forty-third minute free kick, from which Sami El-Abd's long ball picked out the unmarked Jerahl Hughes, whose header across goal was allowed to reach Harding for a simple tap-in at the far post.

The introduction of Arron Hopkinson as a half time substitute, and the arrival of Kenny Pogue ten minutes after the restart galvanised United for a while, with Pogue hitting the upright with a right foot volley after running onto another excellent through ball by Hall.

But when the midfielder was played into trouble by keeper Lloyd Anderson's unwise short goal kick, Hall was immediately robbed of possession by Joe Keehan, to set up Harding for his second goal, confidently driven past Anderson from just inside the area.

Sean Ray picked up a late yellow card for a cynically poor challenge on Hawks substitute Fraser Logan, symptomatic of a match in which neither side shirked a tackle, although both made every effort to keep the ball on the floor, leading to a decent game of free-flowing, passing football, but one in which the visitors always seemed to have slightly more of a cutting edge.

United will aim to shrug off this defeat in the last home fixture of their friendly campaign, and end their build-up to the new Ryman League season on a high note, when they travel to Tolworth to take on Corinthian-Casuals on Saturday.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hastings United XI							Whitehawk XI
1 Lloyd Anderson							1 Chris Winterton
2 Jack Dixon							2 Craig Richards
3 Ross Sutton							3 Mark Knee
4 Matt Hall							4 Ryan Thompson
5 Sean Ray (c)							5 Sami El-Abd
6 Josh Jirbandey							6 Marc Pullan (c)
7 George Jones							7 Jerahl Hughes
8 Jack Walder							8 Joe Keehan
9 Wes Tate							9 Sam Gargan
10 Fred Foreman							10 Pat Harding
11 Ben Billings							11 Josh Jones
Substitutes
12 Lee Carey (for Walder 56)							16 Fraser Logan (for Jones 53)
14 Arron Hopkinson (for Jones H.T.)							17 Will Berry (for Gargan 78)
15 Scott Manning (for Jirbandey 63)							19 Callum Saunders (for Hughes 64)
16 Dan Bolwell (for Sutton 78)							20 Karley Akehurst (for Thompson H.T.)
17 Kenny Pogue (for Tate 56)

Attendance: 144

Referee: David Spain (Westfield)

Assistants: Matt Goldsmith (Hastings) & Ken Brook (St Leonards on Sea)