Hailsham Town 4 v 1 Wick

Tuesday 2nd October 2018
Sussex Senior Cup Round One
The Beaconsfield, Hailsham
Admission: £5.00
Programme: 50p
Attendance: 53
Match Rating: 3

This evening I decided to make my second visit to The Beaconsfield this season, mainly as two people I know well would also be attending.

This would be quite an intriguing, between two apparently very even teams, with the prize this evening being put in the hat for a possible tie against one of the big boys in Sussex football in the next round. Just goal difference separated the two clubs in the Southern Combination League Division One, both having accumulated 15 points from their eight league games, Hailsham in fifth place, winning four and drawing three (their only defeat coming on Saturday), whereas Wick were a place below, winning five and losing the other three. Special mention should be made of the excellent programme produced for this fixture, an absolute bargain at just 50p with plenty to read, all of the important stats and facts - the new editor for this season really has settled into producing a quality publication.

On a fairly mild evening, this was very much a game of two halves. The visitors pinned the hosts back in the opening minutes, and they would have go on to have much the better of the first half, looking a threat going forward whilst Hailsham looked a bit disappointing at times. Wick took the lead on 20 minutes, after the Hailsham keeper chased the ball down to the side of the penalty area, the ball was crossed to the edge of the penalty area, and Kieran Playle-Howard headed the ball into the net, brushing the keeper's palm as he desperately tried to recover his position. There was a feeling that a second Wick goal might have decided the tie, so on top were the visitorv, and they came closest to getting it on the half hour mark when the keeper was pulled off a great finger tip save to keep out a well judged shot from the edge of the area by Playle-Howard. Hailsham came back into the game as half time approached, and with just a goal in it at the break, there was all to play for in the second half.

The second half started off quite evenly, before a 8 minute spell completely turned the game on its head. On 55 minutes, Scott Taylor fired home a powerful shot from outside the area into the far corner. Two minutes later Hailsham took the lead, Taylor smashing the ball home after the ball was laid into his path, and on 63 minutes, Hailsham made it 3-1, when Sam Divall ran into a through ball and then poked the ball past the keeper. Wick were a shadow of the team they were in the first half, seeming to lose composure and a couple of their players were booked for niggly fouls. On 72 minutes, Divall diverted the ball onto the far post, bouncing just the wrong side of the goal line, but he did score his second and Hailsham's fourth with virtually the last kick of the game, when he poked the ball home after a flicked on cross.

So in the end a convincing win for Hailsham, strangely after Wick were well on top in the first half, and if they had scored a second, they probably would have gone on to win. But it was Hailsham who were left eagerly waiting for the draw for the next round on Saturday, with a potentia draw against a Bostik League Club, Eastbourne Borough, Crawley Town, or the Brighton & Hove Albion development squad. News also followed that Wick's joint managers had been relieved of their duties ahead of this game.