02/18/07

2006 / 2007 Season 04/11/2006

OK West Hoathly did start this match with only ten men, but even so Buxted played some of the best flowing, attacking football in the first-half here as this reporter has seen all season.

With pre-game problems putting a large monkey-wrench in the Manager’s works, the Bucks started remarkably well. The biggest monkey of all was Gareth failing a late fitness test and having to be withdrawn 20 minutes before kick-off. This left Buxted short of a named substitute to make up three and Bob “I’ll bring me boots” Spencer was drafted in. So with Andy King back in the side and a vibrant Ben Thomas linking well with both wings the makeshift back four weren’t under too much pressure for the first twenty minutes. At the other end we created some terrific chances but failed to hit the target often enough except from corners. Jörn might have been on a hat-trick with a little more luck from headers if he had not had to leave the field after about half an hour with a repeat of a hamstring problem. Enter Nigel into the centre of defence and we still looked ok to a degree. Having got up to full-strength by now though Hoathly began to get in to their stride, facing the road end, and it wasn’t long before they had rattled a couple in. Andy Harper was unlucky with the second as he got some fingers to it but couldn’t keep it out. The writing was appearing faintly on the wall now and just before half-time the third was bundled over the line from a corner. Buxted were slightly unlucky again as the in-swinging corner was punched manfully by the ‘keeper initially, only for it to come straight back down a yard from the goal line where the bundling occurred. Too much bundling, in the opinion of the Buxted centre backs, who claimed that they were both fouled in the melee; but the referee’s view of the incident was that there were too many bodies involved to see who might have been fouling who and it was up to the Buxted defenders to make sure they were the stronger in those situations!

The referee’s judgement was again called into question within a minute of the restart; when a powerful shot from inside the East Hoathly 18-yard box struck a defender’s arm. The referee’s view of the incident was perfect and he concluded that the arm was flung across the defender’s body and a penalty was awarded. West Hoathly complained that it was surely a case of ‘ball-to-hand’ with the fierce shot coming from only a few yards away. The referee agreed that they might have had a point but for the fact that the ball would probably have hit the defender in the chest anyway so he didn’t need to use his arm. Perhaps a different slant on the incident may have been taken if it had been moved up to protect his face. As it happened, the Hoathly ‘keeper palmed the penalty away down to his right but Junior followed up his effort and managed to knock the ball across goal for Ben to tap it in for a life-line.

Unfortunately for Buxted the second-half was mostly down hill from here on in. Amongst East Hoathly’s two goals (one, a superbly struck free kick; the other, a finely-timed run by a striker who finished well to the accompaniment of an offside appeal that was turned down by the, well-positioned, referee) were a number of incidents which left Buxted disjointed and lacking any further real ambition or bite. Pat came on for Andy after about 15 minutes and did well enough. Some players literally went missing though; notably Nigel, who had to be substituted with a mystery sickness; and Lee who had to take a short sabbatical for a stress-related disorder. Nigel’s departure meant the introduction of Bob up front; with Mark dropping into midfield and Ben being asked to cover at centre back. East Hoathly were cruising and Buxted had nothing more to offer in terms of a comeback. It was a long last ten minutes.

Man-of-the-Match, Ben Thomas was one of the few with any passion left in the closing stages; with Steve, Martin & Chris still trying, frustrated though they were with the frontline’s inability to hold the ball, to put something together. Steve especially had another exceptional game. Fortunately West Hoathly were not in a particularly ‘killer’ mood today and Buxted (with their make-shift line-up at the end) managed to hold the score down to 5-1 !!!  

Lance Ingram

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