Report
Leyton Pennant brought their unbeaten record to 12 matches by taking revenge over a lacklustre Hungerford team that had beaten them at Wadham Lodge earlier in the season. Hungerford needed the points just as much as the Lilywhites so the match should have been an upbeat affair: this, however was not the case. Apart from an opening scare, the Lilywhites took early control of the game and rarely let their opponents get a sight of the goal.
Hungerford opened as if they meant business and had the ball in the visitor’s net within two minutes through Daniel Gay. The happiness of the home fan (there were so few people there) was short lived as linesman raised his flag slowly to the upright. (Sometimes one feels WD40 rather than under arm deodorant should be part of the official Assistant Referee’s kit!) This was to be the last time in the half that Hungerford posed any real threat.
The Lilywhites gained control in the middle of the park but were not able to make a great deal of impression in the opponents’ penalty area. The visitors’ attack was often blunted by the shaven headed Tim North who commanded in the home defence. The amount of corner kicks the Lilywhites won was a clear reflection of their dominance but they were unable to get the ball into a real danger area until the 40th minute when, Tommy Lee collected a corner kick at the right apex of the 6 yard box. He instinctively controlled the ball then turned to hook the ball just over the bar.
The second half started the same way the first had ended, with the Lilywhites’ defence in total dominance. Ian Barnes, Neil Morgan and Simon Tickner were so solid they seem to make the art of defending look easy. Even playing at the bottom of one of the biggest slopes in the league did not phase them. Hugerford tried to use their slope by humping the ball into attacking areas but this was their downfall, the ball either ran out of play or was defended out by what has become the most miserly defence in the division.
On 63 minutes Danny Whybrow found himself in exactly the same kind of position as Tommy Lee in the first half. The measure of difficulty was the same and the outcome was the same with the ball being hooked just over the bar. Hugerford’s Richard Bourne was the only player to break through the visiting defence and he brought a brilliant save from Craig Morgan. That was really Hungerford’s last throw of the dice. They seemed destined to get the draw. The Lilywhites had other ideas.
Jerome Matthews replaced Danny Whybrow and immediately made his presence felt up front. His more physical game had the home defence on tenterhooks. On the 78th minute Matthews got the vital goal that team had deserved throughout. Once again it was Tommy Lee in the thick of things: he’d already played a stirling role in holding the ball up in attack and breaking down Hungerford’s attacking play, in their own half. Lee got the ball on the left edge of the penalty area. The Hungerford defence dashed towards him like headless chickens. This allowed Matthews a sight of goal. Lee looked up and delivered a low hard cross 10 yards parallel to the goal line. Matthews took one step, met the ball and slammed it into the back of the net. This broke Hungerford’s spirit and all they could do was stand by while MCNally was sent off, in the final minutes, for spitting.
After such a run without defeat, it seems sure that Tommy Lee must get the “Manager of the Month” award. So it will obviously go to the Wokingham Town manager because they are more consistent than us having remained bottom of the division for the longest time.