Havant & W 1 - 0 Sutton United FULL TIME

[jw]

1-0 Richard Pacquette (9)

FULL TIME

[Rax]

Make that 1-0 F/T.
Bugger.

[os]

Copied this over from old MS

POST BY EXILE IN ANDOVER

Just back from game. The best team lost.their goal was a good strike,but that was about all they did.the nearest they came after that was when we almost scored an own goal.Tony Quinton was sent off start of second half for a second yellow for an elbow.Another bad ref missed two nailed on penalty's for us,and done nothing about their time wasting.We did everything but put the ball in the net.Played some lovely stuff in the second half probably the best all season.I don't know how they are so well up in the league,they did'nt look good at all.

[Amber]

I'd echo most of that.

We did okay enough in the first half. Havaville's goal come about after AJ got sucked into the centre of defence from the left back spot, leaving Pacquette time and space to pick his spot with a rocket of a finish. Phil made a good save later on, stopping a one-on-one in usual style.

For the rest of the half we had spells of possession without really having an effort on goal to speak of until Matt Gray went close with a header. Later, Quinton was put through for our best chance of the half, unfortunately scuffing his side-foot shot.

We all expected more of an onslaught in the second half, with H&W kicking down the (slight) slope (one for you there Frakey ) but it never materialised. After Quinton was dismissed ( a 2nd bookable for lumping his opposing midfielder across the face. ) we actually had more of it and stroked the ball around nicely. Probably the best I've ever seen us play with only 10 men when normally we're atrocious!

As the second half wore on, Sutton pressure led to a period of free-kicks and blocked shots, the best chance of which fell to Patsy who saw his header cleared off the line after a superb Gray cross.

On the whole our performance merited at least a point - especially when reduced to 10 men. I'd say our boys can hold their heads up high today. Sadly it just wasn't to be.

[rob]

Where was Jason today.

[Paul L]

rob said:

Where was Jason today.

Not sure Rob, but he certainly didn't make the trip to Havant.

The line up was as follows:

P Wilson, R Palmer, J Scarborough, L Gonsalves, A Bray (R Gaynor), P Honey, M Gray, T Quinton, W McBean, C Tanner, B Alimi (R Harris). Subs (not used): L Naughton, R Blackwell, S Taiwo

[Amber Aleman]

Good early strike from Pacquette to give Hawks the points, but I thought we played the better football - even after going down to ten men.

So our eight match unbeaten run comes to an end. And we've not scored in our last three. But we're still 11th.

[Dave L]

Have to agree that we deserved something from the game today.

Positive move from Haze to bring on the extra striker, replacing AJ (possibly had taken a knock?) with Ross and switching to 2 up front. It quite often works out better to remain positive after having a player sent off than to go all defensive (not that that would have achieved anything when we were a goal down).

We were the better team throughout that second half, played some good football at times but unfortunately couldn't nick a point.

After the amount Havant played for time in the first half, I decided to clock how long the ball was in play for in the second half - came in at a mere 21 minutes 38 seconds.

[os]

Just a general comment as I was not there, surely given our league postion the performance is what is important. I would rather hear good things about the way we played then to hear we grabbed an underserved point. We have only conceeded 1 goal in 3 games the defence is improving game on game. Warren's goals have dried up of late but like any striker his goal touch will come back and tbh things are not looking at all bad.

[suttonview]

I agree with OS - I thought we played better than in the last 2 draws and as we have nothing really to play for, the perfomances matter more than the result. We weren't helped up front by crowding midfield and only playing Warren up front until the substitutions.

Poor report in the NLP by the way - especially the claim that H&W took advantage of their 1 man advantage when Tony was sent off. In the sense that they failed to score any more goals, I suppose ?

[markf]

I noted the NLP report too. How biased can a home reporter be? My first reaction "appalling". Echo the sentiments here that we should have got a point but that's football as they say. I thought the ref missed alot but no complaints over TQ's dismissal - could have been a straight red. The time wasting in the first half was a joke & the ref completely ignored it. Perhaps he had an improtant evening engagement.

[wiltshire]

The very windy conditions made it difficult for both teams but I thought we played much better 2nd half even with 10 men into the wind than Havant managed throughout. Their goal was a cracking strike but we really should have got at least a point. Living down here I don't go often enough to know all the players but we wasted a great chance 1st half when our No 10 (I think) had a clear strike on goal inside the penalty area and scuffed it. Fair play to the lads they never gave up and nearly scored right at the death. Havant's time wasting, which started after the goal (9th minute!) was quite depressing really. The ref did absolutely nothing about it and seemed to have his decision making chip set at random.

[taz]

Another 'top' side played & I've yet to see anyone that looks like they could hold their own in the Conference.

Deserved a point from the game. They weren't much better than us and only that screamer seperated the sides. Pleased with the way we played after Quincy was sent off though. There never really looked to be a man advantage for the last 20mins or so.

Encouraging display if not the result. But it shows how far we've developed this season. Last year, we'd have got gubbed 3-0 in that game.

[Del]

This hold their own in the conference is a bit misleading.I'm sure that the two sides that go up will obtain different players in the close season and not make the same mistake as Rains thinking that the same players can do a job at a higher level. The hard part is getting up their in the first place.Whoever would have thought that Gravesend could do so well.

[os]

H+W don't have any money they are pushing the boat out sustaining this challenge so if they up their budget they will be taking a big risk. They cut their budget earlier in the season so I can't see it.