Category: News 2007 / 2008

Lavant Reserves travelled away to Littlehampton side Highdown Hornets Saturday and struggled to match their previous week performance, making hard work of the win.

Both teams started slowly with a cautious approach, as this was their first encounter against each other in a league game.  Then after ten minutes the first chance fell to Lavant as Ross Lines latched onto Carl Drinkwater’s neat flick and raced past the stranded full back, clean through on goal, but the Hornets keeper closed the angle and pulled off a good save to deny Lavant the opening goal.

Minutes later a mix up in the Lavant defence allowed the homeside’s striker to also break clear and go one on one with the goalkeeper, but Stuart Eastwood pulled off a superb one handed save to then deny the Hornets the lead.

With 20 minutes gone Lavant opened the scoring with their best move of the game, Guy Pinder played the ball out from defence to Scott Yaxley on the right flank, who passed to Lines, who threaded the ball through to Andy Strange who ran on and blasted the ball in the back of net, making it one nil to the visitors.

Hornets were quick to reply and went level 10 minutes later.  The Lavant defence stopped still, when the referee waved on a blatant offside to allow a Hornets player to run in on goal un-apposed and score past the stranded Eastwood.

Lavant rallied and Guy Pinder and Yaxley both almost restored the lead but their efforts were agonisingly just inch’s wide.  Then the Hornets failed to deal with Daryl Hall’s corner, as the keeper could only defect the ball onto the cross bar and Lines was waiting to pounce and head into the top corner to restore Lavant’s lead.

With 35 minutes gone Lavant were forced into a change as Dave Kent replaced Giles Weller who limped off with a bad ankle injury, which is likely to keep him sidelined for a good few weeks.

The second half saw both sides have good chances to score but both keepers helped keep the score unchanged.  Hall hit the post with another corner kick and Kent put Drinkwater through on goal, but he was unable to lift his shot over the out coming Hornets keeper who saved at close range.

As the game went on both teams cancelled each other out. With both sets of players now showing signs of tiredness and the poor condition of the pitch causing the ball to bounce unevenly all over the place, this all contributed to a uncoordinated last quarter of the game and without Lavant scoring from their numerous chances, they were unable to kill the game off and so made hard work of the remaining minutes, but they hung on for the win and take all three points.

Team: S.Eastwood, N.Farrer, J.Strange, G.Weller, S.Yaxley, A.Strange, D.Morris, G.Pinder, D.Hall, R.Lines, C.Drinkwater. Subs: T.Sheppard, D.Morris.

Tom Parker already has staked his claim for his first trophy for this season with a woeful miss in the second period of extra time against Lower Beeding on Saturday.

Ollie Haggar clean through on the right wing, drew the keeper off his line then squared the ball back across the six yard line to the waiting Parker.
Six yards out and an open goal, surely it must be a goal!!!!!!!
Unfortunately NOT.

Somehow Tom slotted the ball wide of the near post and then quickly realised
to his dismany that his effort had been seen by both the first and reserve teams who were already filling out their voting slips.

Still a long way of the season to go.  Can anyone do any worst. We hope not.

Eight man Lower Beeding held out against Lavant into extra-time in this Centenary Cup clash.

The Division 1 side even went ahead when Matt Wright headed past Lavant ‘keeper, Martin Pullen on 12 minutes.

Lavant were simply too anxious to justify their three man advantage but eventually got on level terms, when Robbie Pinder capitalised on a Joe Hepworth and Oli Haggar combination to turn his defender and finish sweetly on 38 minutes.

The visitors worked hard and deserved to take the game into extra-time, although Matt Price shaved the post for Lavant and striker Stuart Loversidge hit the bar on 67 minutes.

In extra-time Loversidge netted in 94 min but was ruled offside, but eventually met a Liam Hayward cross on 99 minutes to put the Division 2 side ahead when the central defender went on a right-wing run on his own.

Loversidge again hit the bar on 101 minutes, but Pullen had to pull off 2 excellent saves to keep Lavant ahead.

18 year old Haggar, who had shone throughout the game deservedly scored, heading home Price’s cross on 115 minutes. And Price himself added the fourth 2 minutes from the end.

Lavant manager David Parker paid tribute to Geoff Morris’s men: ” They were hero’s. Terrific movement, fitness and skill and they were absolutely fair with no crude fouls or whinging. I have nothing but admiration for them.”

Team: M.Pullen, M.Court, L.Hayward, S.Blackman, O.Haggar, M.Ayers, D.Maclean, J.Hepworth, M.Price, R..Pinder, S.Loversidge.  Subs: C.Swain, T.Parker, M.Hine.

Following last weeks disappointing cup performance Lavant Reserves bounced back with a convincing win away to Regis Veterans in the league.

Both teams started lively but it did not take Lavant long before they were pressurising the home sides goal.  The breakthrough came on 15 minutes when Dave Kent delivered a delightful corner kick, which flew over the stranded keeper into the top corner of the net.

This goal settled the visitors down and they played some good pressing football forcing Regis to defend their goal for long periods of the first half.  The second goal came when Kent won the ball on the edge of the home sides box, slotting the ball to Carl Drinkwater who broke free on the right wing and crossed to the waiting Ben Thomas who made it two nil from close range.

The second half saw Regis alter their formation in an attempt to get back into the game and for the first twenty minutes they took the game to Lavant.  Against the run of play however Kent picked the ball up in the visitors half and struck a through ball to Drinkwater on the right flange who beat the defence and made it three nil to the visitors after scoring from an acute angle.

This goal somewhat took the stuffing out of Regis and Lavant took advantage.  Ross Lines who had worked tirelessly all game and reeked havoc with the home side defence was fouled in the penalty area. Lines duly stepped up and drilled the penalty kick home into the right hand corner of the goal giving the keeper no chance.

With minutes remaining Lavant further increased their lead when Ben Thomas latched onto a Regis headed clearance smashing the ball home and completing a resounding performance for the visitors.

Team: C.Bowles, N.Farrer, J.Strange, G.Weller, S.Yaxley, A.Strange, D.Kent, B.Thomas, M.Richardson, R.Lines, C.Drinkwater. Subs: D.Woods, D.Morris.

Lavant lost their 100% league record and consecutive clean sheets in 30 soporific minutes.

The visitors came close when Stuart Loversidge twice shot over the Stedham crossbar. But then as match official Martin Smith commented after the game, “Lavant ceased to compete for 20 mins”.

In that time the Chichester side twice gave the ball away on the edge of their defending third to allow Paul Hoff on 14 mins and Paul Porter 23mins to put Stedham in the driving seat. The horrors were complete when Porter’s driven cross was deflected by Liam Hayward into his own net 2 minutes later.

Then, like a giant awaking from sleep, Lavant battled back into the game. When Matt Hine was chopped down, Loversidge met the cross from the resulting free kick to fire home on the half hour.

The second half saw a brighter more committed Lavant. Stedham ‘keeper, Tim Dixon was injured saving from Loversidge and when Dixon went off his understudy pulled off a great save from a Joe Hepworth free kick. Hepworth again hit the bar on 65 minutes and deserved his 75 minute goal when he met Loversidge’s cross after the striker burst through on the left.

” There is no doubt that Lavant trailing by 3 goals did well not to concede and yet test Stedham to the limit; creating so many chances. But unless they start better they will never contest the league leadership”. So said Dave Louis, long time observer of the Chicheser side’s fortunes. Mick Farr’s Stedham however seem back on course for their promotion challenge.

Team: Pullen, Court, Hayward, Hall, Haggar, Ayers, Hine, Neville, Richardson, Parker, Loversidge.  Subs: R.Pinder, Hepworth, McClean.

Lavant Reserves returned to earth with a bump in the first round of the Bareham Trophy on Saturday as they put in a performance well below par of that of previous weeks, slumping to their worst defeat for many a season to Fernhurst, a team only one division above them in the West Sussex league.

Fernhurst having already had their reserve team play at Lavant two weeks earlier had done their homework and straight from kick off capitalised on the home side’s formation by throwing players up front and pressuring the back three.  With the defence and midfield unable to collectively deal with the attacking pressure, the visitors opened the scoring on 15 minutes and then scored again in quick succession.  With Lavant playing as individuals and not as a team they struggled to get a foothold on the game and so were further exploited by the visitors who went into half time four nil up and coasting.

The second half unfortunately started very much the same as the first with Fernhurst grabbing a fifth goal early on.  Lavant’s hopes were then momentarily raised as against the run of play Carl Drinkwater opened the scoring for the home side.  The fight back was short lived as Fernhurst then scored another four goals in succession.  With five minutes remaining Lavant substitute Dan Woods grabbed a second consolation goal.

Fernhurst would have registered a double figure win if it were not for Lavant goalkeeper and man of the match Stuart Eastwood who over the course of the game pulled off a string of great saves and fought right to the final whistle in the endeavour to salvage some pride from the game.

If the reserves are to take anything from this performance they must learn to play together for ninety minutes as a team not individuals, talking and communicating to one another so that the group functions and is organised collectively as a team.  Additionally as individuals each person needs to instil some of the pride and determination shown in Stuart Eastwood’s display.

Team: S.Eastwood, J.Strange, S.Blackman, G.Weller, J.Hird, A.Strange, M.Martin, D.Morris, M.Howes, R.Lines, C.Drinkwater. Subs: D.Woods, M.Gliaubertas, N.Farrer.

Matt Price on the ball attacking the Worthing BCOB goal

Wayne Wadsworth was the Worthing hero as he knocked Lavant out of the Div2 Cup.

The visitor’s manager commented after the game that ” you couldn’t separate the two teams with a cigarette paper”.

It was end to end stuff with Worthing playing some delightful midfield passing but Lavant keeping the “seasiders” safely in front of the home team’s defence. Nevertheless, the excellent Dave Rogers broke through for Wadsworth to open his account on 10mins.

Lavant lifted their game in response and it was clear the equaliser was on the cards. Matt Court hit the Worthing post before he and Tom Parker linked well for the latter to put the Chichester side level on 24 minutes.

Lavant must have taken sleeping tablets at half time, for within 47 seconds of the restart, Wadsworth got his second. Martin Ayers twice put Tom Parker away down the right and his powerful crosses found Court miss the first but bury the second on 50 minutes.

It was then an all out battle. Lavant nearly won it in normal time with Dave McClean shaving the post and Court again hitting the woodwork.

The first half of extra-time produced no change. As Lavant pressed for a winner Wadsworth struck again on the counter 7 minutes from the end. As Lavant threw everything forward Alex Walsh put it beyond the homeside’s reach when he tapped home a Roger’s cross.

Team: Pullen, G.Pinder, Hayward, Hall, Haggar, Hepworth, Hine, Price, Parker, Court.  Subs: R.Pinder, Martin, McClean.

Lavant started the Div V cup-tie in a lively mood and had some great chances early in the game to open the scoring.  Christian Swain should have punished the visitors after he met a Lavant free kick at the far post, but his header at close range went straight into the keeper’s arms.  With ten minutes gone Adam Yaxleys effort was only inches wide of the post, then moments later Ross Lines broke free of the Southwater defence shooting past the stranded keeper but again the ball went agonisingly wide of the post.

On 20 minutes referee Duncan Carter limped off injured and was replaced by the Southwater manager for the remainder of the game.

The lack of goals frustrated Lavant and their game started to suffer and with the loss of concentration allowed the visitors to start to get a foothold and on 30 minutes they could have opened the scoring but they were denied by keeper Stuart Eastwood.

Lavant should have gone into the break in the lead after Withall broke down the left wing and crossed to the waiting Yaxley but again his shot went frustratingly wide of the target.

Half time allowed Lavant the chance to regroup and this certainly showed through with their second half display.  On 50 minutes Lines met a Swain through ball but his shot when just over the bar.  At the other end a mix up between Eastwood and Giles Weller almost allowed the visitors to open the scoring against the run of play.

Then Lines clear through on goal had two one on ones with the keeper in succession and Jimmy Hird hit the bar, but Lavant were still unable to make the breakthrough.

Then with 20 minutes remaining Chris Withall won the ball on the edge of the box and unleashed an unstoppable drive into the top corner of the net giving the keeper no chance, 1-0.

From this moment on it was all Lavant as they piled on the pressure and 5 minutes later Swains exquisite through ball allowed Withall to race through and again blast the ball into the back of the net, 2-0.

Lavant now in the driving seat introduced fresh legs as subs Dave Morris and Dave Kent were introduced into the game.  Jimmy Hird again came close hitting the bar and Yaxley’s close range shot was saved by the busy Southwater keeper, ensuring the scored remained 2-0 at the final whistle.

Team: S.Eastwood, J.Strange, Blackman, Weller, Hird, A.Strange, A.Yaxley, Swain, S.Yaxley, R.Lines, C.Withall. Subs: D.Kent, D.Morris.

Lavant’s 100% start to the season continued with a hard fought 1-0 win over Wittering Reserves.

Lavant started brightly and it was the away side who almost opened the scoring. Martin Ayers and Mark Richardson combined for Robbie Pinder who went close with a volley.

It wasn’t long however before the visitors were ahead, Lavant were awarded a penalty when Richardson got into the box from a Pinder flick and was bundled over in on 11 minutes.

Joe Hepworth duly dispatched the resulting spot kick, the Wittering keeper managed to get a hand to the shot but the ball still managed to squeezed across the line, 0-1.

From the restart Lavant sat back, allowing the home side to apply a lot of pressure and with the majority of the possession they created several half chances, however man of the match Daryl Hall was outstanding at the back, winning everything in the air.

The home sides best chance came on the half hour mark when a corner fell to the Wittering right back who got his shot away only for Chris Bowls to produce a top class save and keep it 1- 0 up to half time.

Ben Thomas the stand in manager gave his instructions at half time and Lavant came out looking to extend their lead with a succession of corners, with Ayers and Chris Withall going close. For much of the second half Lavant ended up having to protect their goal and at times produced some unorthodox defending.  However they still managed to keep the home side at bay right up until the final whistle, ensuring they came away with all 3 points, their second clean sheet and their best start to a season in recent years.

Team: Bowles, Haggar, Hayward, G.Pinder, Hall, Richardson, Ayers, Maclean, Hepworth, R.Pinder, Withall Subs: Sheppard, Court, Swain.