Chawton Athletic travelled to Kennels Lane, Southwood, for the second time this season - this time to face Dynamo Cove Reserves in their first match in 2011.
Athletic welcomed two new signings by putting them straight into the starting line-up. This had been brought about by a growing list of injuries and unavailabilities. Martin Skilton retained the gloves with Jake Channon, Matt Stevens, David Nicholson and captain Marc Taylor-Penfold in front of him. Debutants Will Rietzler and Pete Goodall occupied the wings, with James Harvey and Nathan Ingram in the centre of a makeshift midfield four. Ben Hodkin and Martin Booth started up front. Carl Waterfield and Nathan Teague warmed the bench.
The game got under way, with Dynamo the more alert of the two sides. Chawton looked a tad sluggish out of the blocks, after five weeks without a match. Cove forced some good attacking play but, luckily for the Yellows, their finishing was not on a par with their build up play.
Then another injury problem for Athletic with centre back David Nicholson forced off with a knee injury; Carl Waterfield coming on at left back with Taylor-Penfold moving into the middle.
The Yellows continued to play some loose football. The passes were not hitting their intended targets and the formation struggled to gain structure. However, they still managed to take the lead! A long throw in from Ingram and an excellent bullet header from Hodkin, who darted through a pack of players and left his marker static! Not what Chawton deserved, but they certainly had something to work harder for.
The match began to have some more life put into it from Chawton and for the last fifteen minutes of the half there was more intent from the away side, with some good movement and hard work by all eleven players.
The half time scored remained 1-0 to Chawton.
The second half started at a quicker pace from both teams, Goodall and Rietzler switching flanks but Dynamo still looked the more likely to score. A few niggling little fouls (some of which seemed completely innocuous) stopped the away side from getting any real rhythm going early on.
Continuous attacks from the home side forced Skilton to react well with a couple of decent saves, and the Dynamo forwards spooning some shots wide.
With half an hour on the clock, manager Waterfield decided a different tactic by putting on the slightly more experienced Nathan Teague for Pete Goodall in a straight swap at the right of midfield.
The Yellows soon found themselves two up after Hodkin knocked the ball past the centre back and tried to pick out strike partner, Booth. But the pass rebounded off the last defender, back into Hodkin's path, who then chipped it over the advancing keeper.
Nathan Teague was lucky to escape a booking for a forceful tackle on Dynamos left midfielder, but was merely trying to get himself into the game and stave off any attackes down the Chawton right.
Chawtons clean sheet was threatened when the home side did eventually hit the back of the net, but thankfully it was ruled out due to the Dynamo striker fouling Stevens. Stevens had to come off with an injury which left the Yellows having to finish the last ten minutes with ten men. Harvey dropped to right back, Channon moved into the middle alongside Taylor-Penfold and Booth dropped to fill the hole in midfield.
Further attacks from the away side were few and far between, as Chawton concentrated on not conceding. A few corners from Cove were cleared and with some misplaced passes from them too, the final score was 2-0.
There were solid performances by Taylor-Penfold commanding the defence, Channon at right back who put in some crunching tackles, solid headers and covered well and Skilton in goal who mopped up everything that was thrown, shot or miskicked at him! Ingram in midfield worked tirelessly with Harvey, putting in some good flicked on headers. But it was Hodkin who recieved the man of the match award for a tireless effort up front, pulling back to cover in midfield during the near constant onslaught in the first half hour. Finishing with a brace also took the front man to 14 goals in 13 games.
Next match is at Binsted Rec, against old Farnham League rivals, Lindford. Manager Waterfield hopes the injury list is shorter by then!
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