Havant & Waterlooville (0) 1 Faal (pen) 86
Tonbridge Angels (1) 1 J. Wood
Attendance: 1,001
Admission: Pass
Programme: £2.50
Mileage: 209/6,347
Would I have taken a point on the way in? YES. Would I have taken a point at half-time? NO. Am I pleased with a point? YES. That goes some way to summarise the pattern of this game. So let’s break in down those three phases.
Despite a recent poor run of form that has resulted in Havant’s Paul Doswell removing himself to an upstairs role of Director of Football, albeit that he was serving a 12 match touchline ban for a colourful turn of phrase directed at Ebbsfleet’s German manager Dennis Kutrieb, they still sat handily placed within the play-off zone, three points in front of the Angels. So, it was never going to be easy against one of the better resourced clubs in the division, but one that has, once again, massively underachieved.
The first half saw Tonbridge dominant. Jack Wood scored a fine goal; struck a post and Jordan Greenidge wasted a one-on-one opportunity with very little alarm at the other end. So it is fair to say that at half-time, the game could, and possibly should, have been put done and dusted, home and hosed.
But it was not and the Angels were left clinging on to their point and had Jonny Henly to thank for a added time save after the home side had equalised through a dubious penalty with four minutes remaining.
Despite a journey that had been stop-start with M25 and M3 hold-ups we arrived in Hampshire with a reasonable amount of time to spare and finding the weather spring-like for what seems the first time in months. Team news saw Jamie Fielding out with a broken hand and Tommy Wood rested to the bench.
Almost from the outset, to even the most untrained of eyes, it was clear that Jack Wood was about to lead his full back a merry dance setting up an opportunity for Greenidge on 11 minutes that the home side scrambled to safety.
Wood gave the Angels a deserved lead, after 23 minutes, when he received the ball from a throw-in; rode a challenge and from the right hand edge of the box, curled in a shot from the right into the far corner with a strike very reminiscent of his recent goal at Eastbourne.
The Angels had a scare immediately after the goal as Henly needed to be alert to avoid Tariq Hinds conceding an own goal, and personally, I was uncomfortable every time Mo Faal, surely a player destined for a move upwards, was on the ball.
A big chance fell to Greenidge, five minutes from the break, when he picked the pocket of Joash Nembhard to go one-on-one with goalkeeper, Teddy Sharman-Lowe, but his attempt to clip the ball over the advancing keeper was charged down and scrambled to safety.
Into first half added time and Jack Wood fastened on to a loose headed clearance and in an identical run to that of his goal almost produced the same outcome but this time the ball rebounded of the far post.
Four minutes into the second period, Tonbridge had a goal ruled out for offside after Sonny Miles had run onto Ben Swift’s head-on following a free kick. His cross was converted by Swift but Miles was deemed to have strayed a yard offside.
Havant were awoken from their slumber and started to impose themselves on the game as any team losing at home should. A snap shot from Charlie Ruff was comfortably dealt with by Henly and, on the hour, the goalkeeper fumbled a cross under pressure but Faal’s effort from the loose ball cleared the bar by some distance.
A through ball saw Tyrell Miller Rooney take a heavy touch off his chest allowing Henly to save at his feet, but the pressure was mounting.
The big chance to put the game to bed for the Angels came on 77 minutes. Hinds played the ball forward to Lewis Gard after Miles had broken down a Havant attack. A deft touch from Gard saw him clear to lay the ball into the path of Joe Turner, who from the edge of the box lifted his shot over the bar.
Shortly after some superb defending from Craig Braham-Barrett, the Montserrat-bound defender was judged to have brought down Josh Passley, a decision that could easily have gone either way, on the very edge of the penalty area for the award of a penalty, that was fairly leathered home by Faal, giving Henly absolutely no chance.
In the dying embers of seven minutes of added time, Henly produced a brilliant fingertip save to deny a header from James Roberts and avoid a cruel defeat.
Perhaps it’s an indication of just how far the Angels have come to leave Havant with a sense of disappointment, but that was the way it felt.
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