Match report
Hawthorne Rangers A - A Northfield
(Score 0 - 3 at time of abandonment (50 minutes))
by Eddie Bernard
Tell us what you think below...
Football took a back seat today as the game against Northfield was abandoned after 50 minutes due to a serious injury to a Hawthorne Rangers player. Two players sliding in on each other is invariably a recipe for disaster, and so it proved when two Mattys, one from each team, collided, with the Hawthorne Rangers player coming out the worst from the challenge. The damage: a fractured shin and a badly twisted ankle.
Inevitably, the game was quickly called off as both sides waited for the ambulance to arrive. Up until that point Hawthorne had been under pressure for most of the game, unable to deal with the pace at which Northfield were launching counter-attacks. The 3-0 scoreline at the time of abandonment was a fair reflection of the game up to that point; in truth, Hawthorne were not particularly up to the task.
It could have been different had Hawthorne taken the first chance in the game after a few minutes: the ball came to Adam in a great position on the right. He fired a shot in but it was saved well by opposition, and former Hawthorne Rangers, goalkeeper John.
After that the game was fairly open, both sides getting forward, but Northfield only needed one opportunity to take the lead when Hawthorne's defence failed to clear their lines quickly enough, leading to a Northfield player scoring a simple goal from close range. 1-0.
Hawthorne remained under pressure after that - somewhat Jekyll and Hyde after last week's excellent display against Moon - and inevitably conceded a second after a very poorly defended corner. 2-0.
After that Northfield continued to knock the ball around well in the windy conditions, getting more chances to score, but they had been stopped by Warren, Matty and Josh, as well as Ray tracking back, on more than a few occasions. Hawthorne did get the ball forward too, but most of their possession was squandered due to good Northfield defending or a poor final ball into the box being either overhit or blown away by the strong wind.
Half time at 2-0 represented the balance of play accurately. Darren hardly had a save to make - that was until the second half began. Now with the wind against them, Hawthorne seemed to be incapable of dealing with it, and so the ball spent most of its time in their area. Darren made three excellent saves to keep the scoreline respectable, but couldn't do anything about the third Northfield goal, which was sweetly struck from 18 yards and flew into the bottom right corner.
It wasn't long after that that the injury to Matty occured, and soon after both managers agreed to call the game off out of respect. While no one can be sure what would have happened had these terrible circumstances not happened, it seems a pretty safe bet that Hawthorne would have lost the game; for some reason they didn't seem themselves today on many departments of the pitch.
On a final note, we're very sad to see this injury to Matty, who had been having an excellent season in defence for us, and has been a superb addition to the squad. Hawthorne will not be the same without him. We wish him all the best and hope for a speedy recovery.
Best wishes to all for a happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.
| Team for the game | |||
| Darren (GK) | |||
| Matty | Josh | Warren | Joe |
| Adam B | Ray | Eddy | Mark |
| Charlie | Jay | ||
Subs: Danny (40 mins), Adam L (40 mins), Ryan
What do you think? Post your comments below...