Havant 5s vs Blandford  

Blandford, with four wins from four, were riding high, but were now facing their biggest test against free-scoring Havant.

Havant showed their threat early on, pressing Blandford into mistakes and gaining possession high up the pitch.  But Blandford, true to form, soaked up this pressure, before capitalising again on the counter.  Off the break, Matty Lewis pinged a ball into the D which found Theo Browning, who deflected the ball past the keeper’s left glove and into the goal, to take the lead after 10 minutes.

Six minutes later, Havant brought the game back level through Knaresborough.  The game continued with Havant pressuring and Blandford hitting Havant on the break.  An aerial into the Havant D was nearly turned in by Gareth Hardiman. 

On the 22^nd minute, Gareth had another opportunity.  Tom Tridgell played the ball into the Hardiman, who rolled his player and coolly faked out the keeper, before slipping the ball past him to reestablish Blandford’s lead.

With ten minutes to go until half-time, Blandford established a foothold in the game.  Theo Browning deflected a first time hit towards the keeper.  The keeper saved, but pushed the ball into the path of an onrushing Tom Tridgell, who volleyed the ball into the top left corner for Blandford’s 3^rd.

At half-time, Blandford knew their lead was more precarious than it looked on paper.  Havant remained a threat and the team knew they had to dig deep if they wanted to leave with their 100% lead intact.

Ten minutes into the second half, Havant struck again to close the gap through Craig Duffy.  Blandford rallied and had two glorious chances to score.  First, Finn Hardiman was put through at the top of the D.  He rolled right past two Havant defenders, striking the ball from a narrow angle, which was smartly saved by the Havant keeper.  Shortly after, another Blandford strike, struck a Havant foot on the line, for a Blandford penalty stroke.  Up stepped captain Matty Lewis, who struck well, but was denied by the Havant keeper.

With Blandford at risk of letting their lead slip, Paul Cross subbed on.  He was instantly found in space by Matty Lewis and proceeded to go on a run into the opponent’s D.  He rode a tackle and then deflected the ball into the D for Finn Hardiman to volley into the back of the net, to make the score 4-2.

With ten minutes to go, Havant threw everything into their attempts to equalise.  A combination of agricultural tackling and partisan umpiring led to a relentless series of short corners for Havant.  A series of intricate routines all led to naught.  On 62^nd minute, Ben McCosh came up from the back and proceeded to rip a drag-flick inside the left-hand post to reduce the deficit to one goal.

Havant kept pushing, but despite managing to strike Rob Browning, failed to hit the net.  The whistle blew, only to be rescinded.  A tense two minutes ensued before finally the (final) final whistle blew.

Man of the Match: Tom Tridgell – Seemed to teleport around the pitch, linking all phases of play.

DOD: Gareth Mitchinson – Completed his annual squarial and matched it with some questionable tackles.