Post by malcolm on Aug 7, 2022 17:42:58 GMT 1
Winchester City lost their opening match of the Southern League Premier Division South 3-0 to a Poole who used the flanks well, but newly promoted Winchester gave a reasonable account of themselves against a strong Poole team whose side to face Winchester included Wes Fogden who has 97 football league appearances and several others with solid Southern League experience and in some cases National League experience as well.
Winchester attracted a crowd of 363 for this match, with this including a group of Merthyr Town supporters whose coach broke down near Winchester on the way to their match with Gosport Borough and with the cost of taxis to take their whole group to Gosport being prohibitively expensive decided to take in the Winchester game instead and the passion of these Welsh supporters added greatly to the atmosphere at the game.
Winchester's starting line-up on Saturday only included five members of the squad that had earned promotion the previous season and these players were goalkeeper Charlie Philpott, Danny King, Max Smith, captain Jamie Barron and Warren Bentley, while a sixth member of that squad Simba Mlambo was ruled out with injury. The substitutes bench included Henry Brooks who was also at the club last season. Two members of Winchester's starting line-up were not playing in unfamiliar territory as I K Hill was returning to the club after a spell with Westfield, while Claudio Herbert played on this ground for Basingstoke when they groundshared with Winchester.
Winchester's other starters were Silvano Obeng who scored prolifically for Brockenhurst last season and links up with Winchester's Assistant Manager Luke Middlewick who also joined the club from Brockenhurst. Full back Jack Torniaien joins the club from Eastleigh, while central defenders Richard Wilcox and Mark Jamison have also joined Winchester from local non-league clubs.
In the first 10 minutes of the game there was not much goalmouth action, but in the 11th minute Poole took the lead when great individual skill by Fogden allowed him to hold off challenges and shoot into the bottom corner from the left hand side.
Poole make it 2-0 in the 31st minute thanks to a shot from Declan Rose that took a huge deflection past Philpott. However in between these two goals Claudio Herbert had an effort that went across the goal and fractionally wide of the far post, while Jamie Barron had a powerfully struck effort that was just off target.
Winchester captain Jamie Barron was desperately unlucky with an effort that following a good team move hit the inside of the post, while an the stroke of half time Poole's Toby Holmes put in a cross that no-one could get on the end of.
Poole had a goal disallowed at the start of the second half and had an excellent chance to score a third, but they just pushed the ball forward too far and Winchester goalkeeper Charlie Philpott was able to block. However Winchester certainly had their share of attacks with Claudio Herbert hitting the side netting following a quickly taken free kick and a powerful shot from Silvano Obeng was just of target.
However Poole got the all important third goal in the 72nd minute when Luke Pardoe produced a good run followed by an excellent shot which Philpott did well to save at the expense of a corner, with Toby Holmes scoring when the corner was not cleared.
Winchester had an excellent chance to score a consolation goal when Alex MacAllister following up after Henry Brooks's initial effort was saved shot over. Brooks, MacAllister and Josh Bertie were Winchester's three substitutes and they respectively replaced IK Hill, Herbert and Obeng. Although Wilcox headed just over following a corner Winchester were unable to get back in the game and now have away fixtures against Harrow Borough (13th August) and North Leigh (16th August) in which to try and make amends for this defeat.
There is no doubt that Poole are a good Southern League outfit. In the last two completed seasons they have finished 10th and 5th and previous to that had spent two seasons in the National League South reaching the playoffs in one of these, and have a manager Tommy Killick who has been at the club since 2004. Poole first joined the Southern League since 1957 and since then have played at Southern League level and above for a total of 50 years, with their only absences from this level of football being due to an issue that caused them to lose their ground.
The previous weekend two goals by Warren Bentley and one by Silvano Obeng enabled Winchester ti beat Bashley 3-0 and win the Dave Jose cup. Jose played an important part in the rise of Bashley from the lower echelons of the Hampshire League to the higher echelons of the Southern League from the mid 1980's to the mid 1990's. Winchester manager Craig Davis was an important cog in the Bashley Southern League team that reached the Southern League Premier Division playoffs 14 years ago.
Winchester attracted a crowd of 363 for this match, with this including a group of Merthyr Town supporters whose coach broke down near Winchester on the way to their match with Gosport Borough and with the cost of taxis to take their whole group to Gosport being prohibitively expensive decided to take in the Winchester game instead and the passion of these Welsh supporters added greatly to the atmosphere at the game.
Winchester's starting line-up on Saturday only included five members of the squad that had earned promotion the previous season and these players were goalkeeper Charlie Philpott, Danny King, Max Smith, captain Jamie Barron and Warren Bentley, while a sixth member of that squad Simba Mlambo was ruled out with injury. The substitutes bench included Henry Brooks who was also at the club last season. Two members of Winchester's starting line-up were not playing in unfamiliar territory as I K Hill was returning to the club after a spell with Westfield, while Claudio Herbert played on this ground for Basingstoke when they groundshared with Winchester.
Winchester's other starters were Silvano Obeng who scored prolifically for Brockenhurst last season and links up with Winchester's Assistant Manager Luke Middlewick who also joined the club from Brockenhurst. Full back Jack Torniaien joins the club from Eastleigh, while central defenders Richard Wilcox and Mark Jamison have also joined Winchester from local non-league clubs.
In the first 10 minutes of the game there was not much goalmouth action, but in the 11th minute Poole took the lead when great individual skill by Fogden allowed him to hold off challenges and shoot into the bottom corner from the left hand side.
Poole make it 2-0 in the 31st minute thanks to a shot from Declan Rose that took a huge deflection past Philpott. However in between these two goals Claudio Herbert had an effort that went across the goal and fractionally wide of the far post, while Jamie Barron had a powerfully struck effort that was just off target.
Winchester captain Jamie Barron was desperately unlucky with an effort that following a good team move hit the inside of the post, while an the stroke of half time Poole's Toby Holmes put in a cross that no-one could get on the end of.
Poole had a goal disallowed at the start of the second half and had an excellent chance to score a third, but they just pushed the ball forward too far and Winchester goalkeeper Charlie Philpott was able to block. However Winchester certainly had their share of attacks with Claudio Herbert hitting the side netting following a quickly taken free kick and a powerful shot from Silvano Obeng was just of target.
However Poole got the all important third goal in the 72nd minute when Luke Pardoe produced a good run followed by an excellent shot which Philpott did well to save at the expense of a corner, with Toby Holmes scoring when the corner was not cleared.
Winchester had an excellent chance to score a consolation goal when Alex MacAllister following up after Henry Brooks's initial effort was saved shot over. Brooks, MacAllister and Josh Bertie were Winchester's three substitutes and they respectively replaced IK Hill, Herbert and Obeng. Although Wilcox headed just over following a corner Winchester were unable to get back in the game and now have away fixtures against Harrow Borough (13th August) and North Leigh (16th August) in which to try and make amends for this defeat.
There is no doubt that Poole are a good Southern League outfit. In the last two completed seasons they have finished 10th and 5th and previous to that had spent two seasons in the National League South reaching the playoffs in one of these, and have a manager Tommy Killick who has been at the club since 2004. Poole first joined the Southern League since 1957 and since then have played at Southern League level and above for a total of 50 years, with their only absences from this level of football being due to an issue that caused them to lose their ground.
The previous weekend two goals by Warren Bentley and one by Silvano Obeng enabled Winchester ti beat Bashley 3-0 and win the Dave Jose cup. Jose played an important part in the rise of Bashley from the lower echelons of the Hampshire League to the higher echelons of the Southern League from the mid 1980's to the mid 1990's. Winchester manager Craig Davis was an important cog in the Bashley Southern League team that reached the Southern League Premier Division playoffs 14 years ago.