Match report
Falcon 7 - 1 Hawthorne Rangers
by Eddie Bernard
Tell us what you think below...
Hawthorne threw away a goal lead in quite spectacular fashion in this rather depressing affair against physical opposition. Starting brightly, they managed to score early and looked like they were going to make something of it. However, an implosion followed - and though they were still in the game at half time, they soon surrendered and ended in the usual manner.
Hawthorne were quick out the trap, passing and moving well, and the ball fall to Jay just outside the area. He struck the ball well, and it flew into the top right hand corner - and all within the first minute.
That seemed to give Hawthorne the confidence to play. They knocked the ball about, and made Falcon look decidedly average, simply by stringing some passes together.
They rode their luck at times - particularly when Danny G cleared a certain goal off the line by heading it over the bar. Unfortunately, however, it was made up for a few minutes later when a particularly bizarre "handball" was awarded against him - and Falcon put the resulting penalty away. 1-1.
From that point, the game seemed to slip from Hawthorne's grasp. Almost immediately from the restart, Falcon waltzed through the Hawthorne defence and scored. 1-2 after 18 minutes.
The half continued, but Hawthorne showed they weren't out of the match. Jay worked hard on the right wing and got a good cross into the box, but the finish was weak. Minutes later, Luke had a shot which just drifted agonisingly wide of the far post.
But these were the final real chances for the team. After that, the game became a procession of Falcon attacks, wave upon wave of them. It was 2-1 at half time, and if only Hawthorne had held it together they could have got something from the game...
As it was, everything fell apart. Falcon managed to score from all over the pitch, from outrageous long range efforts on the flanks, to simple free headers at corners when their attackers were outnumbered in the box two-to-one. The closing down was simply not good enough, and every time Hawthorne managed to get a defensive header on the ball, it tended to go up, rather than away from danger.
In the end the game ended 7-1 to Falcon. In some respects Hawthorne didn't deserve to lose so badly, particularly as this team were not as good as Houldings last week. But at the same time, Hawthorne really didn't do anything to avoid suffering such a heavy defeat.
At the time it felt like Hawthorne would pay dearly for not taking more of their chances in the first half. Turns out that was exactly what happened. Hawthorne need goals for confidence. They looked a different side in the first 10 minutes when they had their noses ahead. It's going to be a tough problem to crack.
| Team for the game | |||
| Jack | |||
| Danny G | Josh | Joe | Mark |
| Luke | Charly | Warren | Adam B |
| Jay S | Ray | ||
Subs: Mikey (25 mins), Danny B (HT)
Man of the Match: Joe
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