Hayling Utd 5 Winchester City Reserves 0

Given the amount of rain which had fallen in recent days, it was something of a surprise that this match went ahead, although in the event the pitch was in reasonable condition, helped no doubt by the drying wind. Unfortunately, by the time kick off approached ,this had increased to gale force and grew ever stronger as the game progressed.
Kicking against the wind in the first half, we struggled to make much headway, with the ball spending too much time in the air and with neither team able to put their foot on the ball or put together a passing move of any significance.
The defence looked solid throughout the game and were rarely placed under any sustained pressure by Winchester who did not make the most of the advantage which the elements gave them.
Mid way through the half we took the lead when following one of our rare forays into the Winchester half, a good shot from the edge of the area by Gemma was only parried by the Winchester keeper and Mel followed In well to find the back of the net.
Soon afterwards the ref missed a foul on Skip in midfield and the ball broke to a Winchester forward who fired in a powerful cross-shot which Kate was pleased to see hit the bar.
As half time approached we came close to extending our lead when Shaggy fired in a couple of powerful shots as well as putting over a number of excellent corners which caused uncertainty in the Winchester defence.
In the second half and with the wind (by now hurricane force) at our backs we put Winchester under increasing pressure and it was no surprise when player-of-the-match Jaz, who had an excellent game, finished well to make it 2-0. She soon doubled her tally, again shooting confidently home to make it 3-0 which effectively ended the game as a contest.
Nevertheless Winchester continued to make some good chances and three times in the last 20 minutes Kate was called upon to make good diving saves to prevent them from pulling a goal back.
We added a well-deserved fourth when Chrissy forced the ball home following a high cross into the Winchester area, but we saved the best goal of the game for our fifth. An excellent passing move saw the ball worked across the pitch from right to left before the ball came back to Lisa Shadbolt who struck a powerful shot past the Winchester keeper.
In summary, this was a great confidence-building result in difficult conditions. The whole team played well, with everyone battling for each other and no-one giving less than 100%. In many ways it’s a pity we don’t have a game next week to build on this performance.