Wandered round to Western Way with Andy to see if Bemerton could improve on their weekend performance. Both teams started brightly in the first five minutes but the game then went off the boil with a mix of a whistle happy referee and two sets of strikers who couldn’t stay onside.
In the 20th minute Bemerton’s keeper handed Hamworthy a good opportunity as he came outside of his area by a couple of feet to collect a ball with his hands under no pressure. The assistant noticed the infringement and the referee awarded a freekick. Hamworthy tried to take the kick from further out to give them an advantage in getting the ball over the wall but the referee spotted this and moved the ball forward. The kick was on target but was well saved by the keeper.
Bemerton took the lead in the 33rd minute. The ball was passed out to the left for Hughes to run onto. He took the ball down the wing and passed the ball back into space for a teammate to cross. The ball was too high for the players running into the near post but Sanger was at the backpost and volleyed the ball along the ground into the net. This was the first time that Bemerton had attacked down the left, just minutes after Andy had mentioned that they really needed to get the ball over to that side!
At the start of the second half Bemerton had a couple of opportunities to win a penalty. The first one was for a push in the area which was a bit dubious, the second one was for a sandwich on Rowe as he tried to take the ball past a couple of defenders. Although he was brought down, he got up to carry on the attack only to lose the ball. If he had stayed down it looked like the referee was about to point to the spot.
In the 65th minute Sanger was held back in the box but managed to keep his balance to put a shot on target. The keeper managed to stop it but the ball deflected out to the right to Rowe. He saw the keeper well off his line but decided to bring the ball forward rather than attempt a chip. When he eventually took a shot his aim was off and the ball sailed well wide.
Bemerton continued to press forward. A great move down the left saw the ball pushed across the area only for the player running in to put his shot narrowly over the bar. A minute later and another attack saw the ball hit with pace parallel to the goalline. It only needed a touch to put it into the net but none of the Bemerton team were far enough forward to finish it off.
In the 68th minute Bemerton came close to extending their lead again. A freekick was played into the box from the right and fell near the line. There was a big scramble as players from both teams tried to get the ball and eventually it was cleared away.
Hamworthy made Bemerton pay for not killing the game off in the 84th minute after a spell of extended pressure. The ball was won in midfield and sent down the right side. A good cross found an unmarked player who rose up and headed the ball into the top right hand corner.
In the 86th minute the goalscorer turned villain and was booked for a late, heavy challenge in the middle of the pitch that lead to a number of players piling in to each other to compare handbags. Bemerton hadn’t given up and came very close to scoring in the 88th minute from a corner. The ball found Fisher on the far post who rose above the defence, headed the ball down into the ground and saw it bounce up on course for the goal until somehow the Hamworthy keeper managed to get a foot onto the ball and clear it away. Hamworthy almost stole all 3 points in the last seconds of injury time but this time the unmarked header went over the bar.
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