There was no admission fee for the game but this wasn't surprising given that their were no boundary fences or turnstiles. The programme cost 2 quid which I thought initially thought would recoup some of the funds but it turned out to be a good read with plenty of humour in the match reports. The ground doesn't have floodlights but does have two new stands to meet league requirements. From reading the programme I discovered that they would have to be installed to meet the full requirements for Wessex 1 but Verwood had been given some time to make progress with this following their promotion the year before.
After the teams kicked off, I found myself surrounded by the self styled Verwood WAGS who didn't stop talking throughout the first half. Verwood scored on 5 minutes with a header from a cross from the right beating the keeper at close range.
Verwood continued to put lots of pressure on Fawley and on the 15th minute managed to put the ball past the keeper from the edge of the box but the header lacked precision and passed the wrong side of the post. Fawley's keeper almost managed an assist on 25 minutes, mishitting a clearance to a Verwood striker who lobbed the keeper and was just about to celebrate when a Fawley defender scooped the ball off the line and out for a corner. The majority of the play was in the Fawley half but they did manage to force a couple of corners which were easily dealt with by the Verwood keeper.
On the 38 minute they created their best chance of the half with a deep corner that cleared everyone and allowed their no 9 to pick up the ball. He moved forward but mishit the ball forward which took it too far for a shot but did manage to get a cross in to the middle. His team mates hadn't read the opportunity and the ball was easily cleared by Verwood. Verwood were unlucky not to add a second in the 44th minute with a shot that went just over so took a 1.0 lead into half time.
Had a chat to a ground hopper from Dawlish after half time who had been to the Hayling game and just made it back to Verwood for the 3pm ko. He kindly passed on a duplicate Hayling pin badge that he had been given earlier that afternoon. Fawley had remained out on the pitch for the half time teamtalk and the message from their manager was to keep working and give it an extra 10% to get something from the game. This seemed to have the desired effect as they were much more determined in the second half.
However it was Verwood who scored next on 58 minutes. A breakaway attack from the right saw the ball played to the left hand edge of the box to a Verwood midfielder who struck the ball across the keeper and into the back of the net. Two minutes later he almost did the same thing again but this time the Fawley keeper pushed it round for a corner.
After this Verwood seemed to sit back on their lead and Fawley gradually began to assert themselves. They had a twenty yard shot tipped over, a header just wide and hit the post from distance. It seemed like the goal they deserved would never come but on 85 minutes the referee penalised the Verwood keeper for not releasing the ball in 6 seconds. An indirect free kick was given at the edge of the box and the Fawley player tapped it back to a team mate to drive under the jumping wall and past the keeper. Verwood were rattled and only a good tackle prevented a Fawley 1 on 1 with the keeper. Fawley deserved an equaliser on their second half performance but ran out of time as the referee blew up. Another entertaining game and another game with no bookings.
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