Report

Hanham Athletic  2  -  0  Winterbourne Utd

A great back to the wall performance against a strong Hanham side, pushing for the league championship. With just 11 players fit and playing in heavy conditions on a large pitch, we knew we were going to be in for a tough night and so it proved although, for 15 minutes or so we did see plenty of the ball, played some good football although chances were few and far between, Tom trying his luck from 20 yards and Sharpey having two attempts go wide.

With Ollie picking up the ball and always looking for the pass and Will pushing forward well, we had a fair share of the ball and looked comfortable.

As the first half wore on, Hanham settled down and it took two excellent saves from Sladey to keep them out, the first pushing a well hit shot over the bar and the second a block with the forward clean through. Hanham did get the ball in the back of the net only for the (superb) linesman to flag for an offside.

The heavy conditions looked to take their toll and we were pleased to hear the half time whistle with the scores level

The second half was rather one way traffic. With the wind at their backs, Hanham grabbed the initiative and took the game to us. We didn’t quite track their forwards runs and had to scramble the ball away whenever we could. Whilst we could have improved our defending right through the side, we never gave up and continued to battle away for the whole of the half.

Unfortunately we conceded two very similar goals where the Hanham players found gaps right through the centre of our side and two identical clinical finishes into the bottom corner. Despite all of their possession, clear cut chances were at a premium and Sladey had a couple of fairly comfortable saves to make and a number went wide.

We did get into the game a bit in the last 10 minutes and had more of the ball in our opponents third. Strong runs from Tom and Sharpey went without managing to create a clear cut chance. Ross also had a long range shot that was slightly fumbled but wouldn’t come out to our chasing players.

All in all, a pleasing performance to end the season. Superb effort from all 11 players and we should take great credit for never giving the game up. We haven’t played a better footballing side all season and best of luck to Hanham for next season.

Kev