H-ton Hawks 5-8 D.P. Trophies

In a game of two vastly different halves, the Hawks threw away a comfortable lead to slump to another defeat.
After leading at half time by 5 goals to 2, thanks to a Wilson hat-trick, the Hawks game plan backfired and they found themselves on the end of a 8-2 kicking.

As I wasn't at the match I cannot comment on anything else, but a more comprehensive match report may follow if some cares to write me one.

Hawks goals came from Wilson(3), Cummings(1) and SWA(1). Man-of-the-match was awarded to Wilson for his first half display.

Next match is against Lucombe on 1st December at 6.30pm on Court 1.

Barmy Army 8-5 H-ton Hawks

In a well fought opening match in the second division, the Hawks continue their quest for their first win.
In a close game the Hawks battled throughout the match but found themselves on the losing side at the final whistle.

The first half started with the usual story. The Hawks found themselves 1-nil down after a few minutes. In previous weeks this had proved a problem, but their new found confidence in front goal mean that the score line at half-time was a respectable 3-2 to Barmy Army. The first half was not without incident. Borthwick, in goal whilst still taking it easy from his ankle injury, conceded a penalty when he slid across the box and toughed the ball outside of his area. To much relief, he tipped the resulting spot kick around the post. This was then followed by a freak goal for the Hawks. Lawrence took a powerful shot on the right side of goal. The shot was well saved by the keeper. The ball then hit off the side wall, came back toward the goal and crept into the net behind the keeper.

The second half started with even possession for both teams. As the half progressed the Hawks picked up more play and looked dangerous in front of goal. The Barmy Army had a switch around at half time, with the first half keeper taking up position in left defence. As the Hawks looked for goals to square-up the match, or even go ahead, their efforts were dashed by two long range efforts. With a packed defensive line, marking members of the Barmy Army, a couple of shots were able to find their way through to goal and into the net, past a blindsided keeper.

The Hawks were unlucky not to get pick up any points from their first match of the new season. Goals came from Lawrence(3), Watchman Atkinson(1) and Cummings(1). Man-of-the-Match went to Borthwick.

The next match is 6.30pm Friday 24th November, on Court 1, against D.P. Trophies.

Remmer & the Arg 8-8 H-ton Hawks (Pre-Season Friendly)

The H-ton Hawks are left disappointed after they fail to pick up their first win.
In a game they should have won the Hawks should they do have the ability to score goals.

This week the team was Borthwick (goalkeeper), Lawrence, Cummings, Houghton and Watchman Atkinson as Wilson and Aldridge were sidelined with man-flu. After a very scrappy first 5 minutes in which the Hawks were all over the place, they found themselves 1-nil down, but managed to turn things around with by applying pressure to the opposition and pulling off excellent passing manoeuvres. It wasn't long before the Hawks were in control. For the remainder of the first half they dominated the play. This resulted in some in-fighting between the Remmer & the Arg team-mates. This spurred the Hawks on and they took a 6-2 lead.

With the Hawks in a commanding position the game looked theirs. Unfortunately in the world of H-ton Hawks, things never go to plan. The lack of fitness kicked in and the Hawks started to struggle. The runs down the flanks that had proven so decisive in the first half dried up. The play from the back was flat. The running machine that is Houghton descended into a canter after a knock in the chest winded him.

The Hawks momentum had ceased. Remmer & the Arg pulled it back to 6 all, then it went to 7-6. The Hawks found themselves behind for the first time since the opening goal. They dug deep to find an equaliser but then fell behind again. With minutes to go, Houghton let rip with a long range power shot which caught a slight deflection and went sailing into the goal. 8-8 was the score with only a couple of minutes remaining. This was to be the end of the match. A member of the opposition turned their ankle straight after the restart resulting in the rest of the game being abandoned due to the time the first aid treatment took.

This was a very entertaining game for the spectator. Dave the referee commented that it was on of the best games he'd seen. Hawks goals came from Houghton(3), Lawrence(3) and SWA(2). All the goals were well taken in their own right. The unselfish play by SWA in passing to Law to calmly slot the ball past the keeper, the individual skill of SWA to talk on players and power home the goal, and the shear persistence of Houghton to intercept the goal keeper's throw-out and knock it into the back of the net. Cummings played a solid performance in defence and Borthwick played another blinder in goal. The Hawks will be disappointed not to take a win from this fixture.

Next week sees the first week of the new season with the Hawks in division 2. The game is on Court 1 at 7.30pm, 18th November against Barmy Army.

Mr Sprout goes MySpace

For some strange reason, I've started up a MySpace page.
It will generally be a duplicate of this site.

The web address is www.myspace.com/htonia

If your signed up to MySpace, you can sign up as a friend (that sounds so desperate and lonely - I'm not a Billy-no-mates - Honest!)

Remmer & the Arg 5-4 H-ton Hawks (Pre-Season Friendly)

The Hawks came so close to their first victory in a pre-season friendly against division 2 opposition Remmer & the Arg
Again this week the Hawks were thin on the ground in terms of team members. Cummings and SWA were missing due to prior engagements, Wison was still been a big girl with his bad thumb, and the resident emergency ringer Neil Houghton was also on the injured list. Therefore another Houghton brother, Craig, stepped up for the challenge.

The Hawks started badly conceding a couple of weak goals, but as the game progressed, the game evened out. After half time the Hawks were the better team but the inability to finish was the overriding factor. The frustration of failing to find the goal caused the Hawks to drift up the pitch, exposing them at the back. Some excellent goal keeping by Borthwick in his first game back from his ankle injury kept Remmer & the Arg from increasing their lead further, but this wasn't enough to prevent another Hawks loss, albeit only a friendly.

Once again inconsistent refereeing saw the match become very scrappy at points. The Hawks can be pleased with their passing display throughout the game which opened up the opposition and lead to all of their goals. Goals came from Lawrence(2), C Houghton(1) and G Houghton(1).

The next game is another pre-season friendly against Remmer & the Arg, 7.30pm Friday 10th November on Court 3.