Isthmian League Division One South
The Pilot Field, Hastings
Admission: £5.00
Programme: £2.50
Attendance: 733
It didn't look like I would be taking in any midweek games this week, with hardly any games scheduled on the East Sussex coast this week, However, when Hastings United tweeted on Monday that their usual admission charge of £12 - surely the highest at Step 4 level - would be slashed to just £5 for this fixture. That was enough to seal the deal for my midweek entertainment.
Hastings United can consider themselves very unfortunate still to be in this division, after leading the division in each of the two aborted league seasons, but this season isn't going quite so well so far. Their manager Chris Agutter surprisingly resigned at the start of November, and their form since then has not been great, losing three of the six league games played since, including, most recently, a 2-0 defeat at Haywards Heath Town on Saturday. They came into this game just outside the play-off positions, in sixth place, following eight wins and a draw from their opening 14 league games. On paper, this evening's game promised to be an even encounter, with Chichester City in ninth place in the table, having won five and drawn five of their 14 league games. They came into this game in good form, winning their last two league games 2-0, and were unbeaten in their last five league games.
On a milder evening than of late, but with misty, swirly drizzle blowing over the Pilot Field intermittently, the visitors forced a smart save from the Hastings keeper inside the first minute, whilst barely a minute later, Hastings' Finn O'Hara met a corner with a header which saw the ball come back off the crossbar. The visitors then had a great chance to take the lead on 23 minutes when Lloyd Rowlatt dinked a lovely ball into the penalty area, finding Ethan Pritchard all alone having sprung the offside trap, but his shot was well parried by Hastings keeper Louis Rogers. Three minutes later and it was Hastings turn to have a good chance, again from a corner, this time Kenny Pogue's near post header flashed just over. Hastings would have the better of the first half overall, perhaps as Chichester seemed to prefer to keep possession at the back, but the scoreline remained goalless at the break
The second half saw Hastings step up the pace, and on 48 minutes, they hit the woodwork again, this time Jack Dixon seeing his flying header come back off the bar. But Hastings finally did take the lead on 56 minutes when a corner reached Pogue beyond the back post, and he slotted the ball home first time through the body of the keeper and a lunging defender. Chichester came so close to equalising on 59 minutes when the ball played forward for Callum Overton to run onto and clear of the defence, and as he ran into the penalty area, he struck a left footed shot, sending the ball past the keeper, only to bounce off the far post and roll along the line, before being cleared. They were having a decent spell, and came close again three minutes later, when Rowlatt saw a stabbed shot on the stretch go just over the bar. But Hastings doubled their lead on 70 minutes, when a long throw in was helped on its way into the back of the net by the head of Tom Chalmers. Chichester had another chance shortly afterwards, Overton forcing a smart block by Rogers, That proved sufficient to seal the three points, although Hastings did have a couple of chances to extend their margin of victory. In truth, they were much the better side on the night, but Chichester certainly had their chances, and Hastings can be thankful to their keeper Rogers for keeping the visitors at bay with at least three very good saves at key moments.
Highlights of this match can be viewed by clicking here
No comments:
Post a Comment