Hastings United 1 v 0 Sevenoaks Town

Wednesday 26th December 2018
Isthmian League South East Division
Pilot Field, Hastings
Admission: £10.00
Programme: £2.50
Attendance: 557

Following my earlier game at Bexhill United, I then made my way along the coast, via a pitstop at the Picture Playhouse Wetherspoons in Bexhill for lunch, to take in this afternoon game at The Pilot Field. It is a ground that oozes character and charm, but one that is in grave danger as the football club deems it an unsustainable home in the long term, and although I have visited the ground many times over the years, most visits in recent years have been for local intermediate and junior level cup finals. So it would be good to visit for a competitive Hastings United game, particularly as the club are having a good season generally, even if their form has tailed off somewhat in the last month - pretty much since I saw them lose at Whyteleafe last month.

The ground has quite an impressive entrance by the passing road, with a large fixture board and entrance turnstiles housed in a fairly large brick building, and after paying the admission fee, spectators then pass between the clubhouse to the left and a club shop and tea bar to the right, before finding themselves in one corner of the ground. Behind the goal, there is a balcony outside the clubhouse, which made for a popular place to watch the action from. Behind the goal, there is a tall stand covering terrace steps. Along one length is the marvellous main stand, running along most of the length, offering mostly bench seating inside from an elevated position, but with some plastic seats installed within a small section. There is a directors area fenced off in the middle, with a media booth to the rear. A further tea bar is situated beneath the stand, and team line-ups are posted on the front wall of the stand. A further small stand is situated behind the goal furthest from the entrance, whilst there is just hand standing below a steep, out of bounds grass bank along the remaining length. It is possible to make one's way to the top of the grass bank to get a good elevated view of the action, but it is quite distant, and no-one would take advantage of that today. The only slight criticism of the Pilot Field is that spectators are quite distant from the pitch, probably at least partly due to the speedway track that used to exist here many years ago. The 52 page programme, mostly in black and white but with a bright cover in colour, was a good read overall, but 34 pages were devoted to  advertising.

After a superb start to their season, which saw them win their opening five games in all competitions, and nine of their first ten games, and have been in and around the top two for most of the season, Hastings have suffered a dip in form since mid November, picking up just one point in four league games, losing their last three, before coming from behind to beat VCD Athletic in their last game at home. They came into this match in third place, following ten wins and a draw from their 16 league games, still looking a good bet for a play-off berth in the top 5, but are 11 points adrift of Cray Wanderers and the only availabile automatic promotion berth. Sevenoaks Town were promoted as champions from the Southern Counties East League Premier Division last season, and have made a solid start to their first season at Step 4 level, coming into this game in 11th place in the 19 team division, following six wins and three draws from their opening 16 league games. The two teams had already met this season at Greatness Park in the reverse fixture, with Hastings winning 2-3.

On an overcast, mild afternoon, I had been expecting an entertaining game between two decent sides, however unfortunately this was not to prove the case, as the game proved to be a rather tepid affair, with goalscoring chances at a real premium at both ends. Hastings had the first real chance when Jack Dixon's shot looped up and, with the keeper scurrying back, many in the crowd cheered thinking the ball had dropped into the net - in fact, it fell just the wrong side of the bar. On 34 minutes, the visitors had a great chance to open the scoring, when former Hastings striker Kenny Pogue forced an excellent save by the keeper.

The second half continued in much the same vein, as both teams looked solid but with precious little attacking intent. On 65 minutes, a free kick from the left hit the post, but this period would prove to be the turning points of the game in Hastings's favour. Their two substitues, Sam Cruttwell and Youssouf Bamba, would inject some much needed pace and urgency, and on 68 minutes, Sevenoaks were reduced to ten men, when Jack Miles was shown a red card for late, high tackle on Jordy Mongoy as he accelerated down the left wing. And three minutes later, Hastings took the lead when Cruttwell drilled in a low shot from outside the area into the bottom corner. They almost doubled their lead two minutes later when Mongoy cut inside and curled a lovely shot from the edge of the area against the cross bar. Hastings finally were looking dangerous going forward, and they quite comfortably saw the game out, save for a decent chance for the visitors on 84 minutes, when a cross from the byline was volleyed just over the bar. But Hastings did indeed hold of the the three points, to climb back up into second place on the table.

For Hastings, this was very much in the "a win is a win" category, they did not play well, but they ground out the result - it is true that successful seasons do tend to depend on days like this, winning despite not playing well.