Match Report
Match Report - 29 Aug 2009, St Francis Rangers FC 1st Team beat Hailsham
The game between 2 bottom five clubs was not a classic but was always interesting and exciting to the end. Ranger’s welcomed back Jamie Westlake from Three Bridges on the right side of midfield.
Hailsham started with a strong wind at their backs and soon took the lead on 7 minutes when Scott McDonald turned sharply in the box and found Tyler Goatcher unmarked on the right to open the scoring for Hailsham with a strong, sliced right foot shot that found the top right hand corner of Simon Lehkyj’s goal, giving the keeper no chance.
Rangers started to press and on 14 minutes Chris Maynard made a good run on the left but his fine cross just eluded Sam Palmer and was cleared for a corner. 5 minutes later Rangers equalized when Maynard’s short pass found Geoff Pitcher 30 yards from goal and a delicate flick released Sam Palmer clear on goal and the number 9 curled his right foot shot just inside keeper Mark Oldroyd’s right hand post.
Hailsham came back, and on 19 minutes McDonald was free in the box but ballooned his shot over the bar and a minute later put the ball in the net but was adjudged offside. On 23 minutes, Sam Palmer broke clear on the right but was pulled down by Lewis Parsons who was lucky to stay on the pitch when referee Nick Baker decided to show only a yellow card to Parsons when most thought it would be a red. On 25 minutes, Pitcher made a good run to give Jamie Weston a scoring opportunity but his strong shot hit keeper Oldroyd and went over the bar for a corner. Maynard’s corner found Sam Palmer’s head but the resultant goalbound header was kicked off the line. Pitcher ran clear on 33 minutes but Oldroyd parried his shot which fell in the path of Elliott Butler whose shot went just wide of the right hand post.
Play was end to end and McDonald headed in on 36 minutes but the Hailsham no 9 was once again adjudged offside. Russell Harris made a good run on the left but his cross was cleared for a corner. McDonald set up Goatcher with another chance but his shot hit Lehkyj’s legs and went over for a corner. Just before half-time,a kick from hands by Lehkyj was flicked on by Sam Palmer to Pitcher who guided his shot inside Oldroyd’s right hand post to give Rangers a 2-1 lead.
After all the action of the first half, the second half started slowly and remained fairly even without any goalmouth activity. The first chance of note came on 60 minutes when Oldroyd’s kick from hands found Weston on the half-way line and he had the confidence to try a speculative lob shot which cleared the advanced keeper but bounced in the area and unfortunately over the bar. With the wind behind them Rangers did more of the pressing but Hailsham still looked capable of scoring although Lehkyj was getting better protection from his defenders Ben Palmer, Tom Djamaluddin and Stuart Church. Rangers went close on a few occasions with Pitcher twice being caught offside when putting the ball in the net after a chip from Butler and a flick from Weston respectively. On 71 minutes, Ben Palmer had to leave the field through injury which necessitated a rearrangement of the defence and Tom Djamaluddin did well to clear a dangerous cross on 77 minutes.
Last season’s youth team players, Josh Hawkes and Greg Archer made encouraging perfomances when coming on as subs. and Pitcher appeared to make the game safe on 83 minutes when he scored with a cheeky back-flick from Weston’s corner. 6 minutes later Hailsham were awarded a soft penalty when Hawkes was penalised for arm entanglement and McDonald scored from the spot, but as they pressed forward seeking the equalizer, they left themselves exposed at the back and in added time Sam Palmer’s pace enabled him to dispossess a defender on the left wing and as he drew the keeper he unselfishly passed to the unmarked Pitcher in the centre who was able to walk the ball into the unguarded net for his hat-trick.
RANGERS: Simon Lehkyj, Stuart Church, Chris Maynard, Elliott Butler, Tom Djamaluddin, Ben Palmer, Jamie Westlake, Geoff Pitcher, Sam Palmer, Russell Harris, Jamie Weston,
SUBS: Greg Archer(Westlake 62), Josh Hawkes (B Palmer 71), Ben Djamaluddin (Harris 90).
MOM : Jamie Weston had his best game for the club so far, but was just pipped by hat-trick hero Geoff Pitcher.
Hailsham 2 - 4 St Francis Rangers FC 1st Team