Law-al & Order Hawks Havant a Clue as Jo's Double Pours Water Over Visit to Honeycroft

Uxbridge 3-0 Havant & Waterlooville

Uxbridge welcomed full time Havant & Waterlooville to Honeycroft having reversed 7 straight home losses with 2 consecutive home wins, Havant & Waterlooville meanwhile came into this encounter on the back of 3 wins in their last 5 away league games. The last time these teams met on 18th October, Havant & Waterlooville recovered from 3-1 down in the 78th minute to level in the 96th minute through a double by captain and prolific scorer, Ryan Seager, he has 32 goals this season.

Havant & Waterlooville made 2 changes to their starting line up from last time with Ben Dudzinski starting in goal and Paul Rooney coming in at centre half, they also had ex Reds Harry Thorpe and Daniel Fosu in their starting eleven. Uxbridge, made one enforced change with Avan Jones starting at centre back as Jordan Stepney has left for Gosport Borough.

There was not much to write about in the opening 13 minutes of play, bar a tame shot from Havant & Waterlooville which went straight to Marco Underwood in the Uxbridge goal. In the 14th minute the quick footed Jeremiah Okine-Peters skinned right back Brendan Willson only to be taken down by the aforementioned Willson who duly received a yellow card. The subsequent free kick from the corner of the box was unsurprisingly headed away by one of the huge Havant & Waterlooville defenders. Uxbridge next attack barely 2 minutes later saw Joe Lawal in the middle of the park and his excellent play set up George Moore but he could only shoot straight at Dudzinski once in the box. In the 20th minute Havant & Waterlooville thought they had a penalty after a nice combination between Seager and Leon Maloney in which the latter went down under a challenge, however, referee Mr Parke had other ideas and booked Maloney for simulation. The first corner of the game went to the visitors in the 22nd minute and after Maloneys corner was punched away by Underwood, the loose ball fell to Seager and his shot took a deflection which enabled a covering defender to clear off the line. Uxbridge then had their first corner of the game in the 24th minute after more good work from Lawal but this didn't amount to anything.

The home side received their first yellow card of the game in the 26th minute when Ciaran Martin was deservedly cautioned for a foul by the Uxbridge dugout on Freddie Taylor. The next moment of controversy - from the visitors perspective - came in the 39th minute when Seager appeared to be through on goal but a perfectly timed challenge from the impressive Reds skipper C J Fearn saw him clearly get the ball first ahead of Seager who went down under the challenge, this was also the view of Mr Parke who waved away the visitors protests. Uxbridge should have taken the lead in the 42nd minute when a Havant & Waterlooville goal kick was headed back by an Uxbridge body to Moore and his good work and square pass in the box found Okine-Peters but his shot flashed wide of the upright. Uxbridge were not to rue that missed opportunity as 2 minutes of injury time was signalled and with the clock on 46:22 the ever running Moore, picked the ball up on the half way line and made his way into the box, this time his square pass was met by the foot of Lawal who finished with aplomb!

HT 1-0

Uxbridge probably should have doubled their lead 2 minutes after the break when a delicious back heel by Liam Prior-Tack fed Moore in the box but his powerful shot was again - like the first half - straight at the grateful Dudzinski. The next 11 minutes saw Havant & Waterlooville come into it and they should have equalised when Maloney and Harvey Laidlaw combined nicely to tee up Seager but the shot went wide. Uxbridge made their first change of the afternoon in the 63rd minute when Ada Okorogheye replaced Okine-Peters on the left and 4 minutes later Harry Rush replaced the as always excellent Toby Nnadozie in the centre of the park, not bad substitutes to bring on and this shows the strength of the squad when everyone is fit! Havant & Waterlooville made their own changes in the 72nd minute with Rio Oudnie-Morgan - the on loan Northern Irish youth international from Ipswich Town making his debut - and Nigel Atangana replacing Taylor and Rooney respectively. The changes didn't have the desired effect as in the same minute Moore received the ball 22 yards out, most players would have looked for a pass but not Moore and his rasping right foot shot flew in off the far post with half the crowd cheering and the other half in astonishment of what a strike it was!

As with the reverse fixture Uxbridge were 2 goals to the good in the 78th minute but this time the next goal went to Uxbridge when a delightfully hooked ball by Prior-Tack sent Lawal racing through on goal and he expertly finished with a shot across the keeper into the corner. 8 minutes injury time were signalled by the officials and Moore had the last chance of the game but his attempted lob was saved by Dudzinski.

The match finished 3 - 0 and the home contingent went home happy with a third home win on the trot. How have Uxbridge transformed their form people asked in the clubhouse afterwards, well, having nearly everyone fit obviously helps but the return of Prior-Tack in the middle seems to have made a huge difference as his records in the league now reads won 6, drew 7 and lost 3 when starting as opposed to won 5, drew 3 and 9 losses when not starting or not involved. Yes, I did look that up at 7:30 on a Sunday morning!

Next week Saturday we face Hungerford Town and we return to Honeycroft on Saturday 14th March as we welcome Evesham.

FT 3-0

Att 365

Uxbridge: Underwood, Brown, Martin (Bocarro), Fearn, Jones, Nnadozie (Rush), Lawal (Montague), Perez-Duah, Okine-Peters (Okorogheye), Moore, Prior-Tack (Keita)

Match Report courtesy of David Mallam

Uxbridge man of the match sponsored by http://www.EandADesigns.co.uk went to Joe Lawal