4th football game since Saturday for Derek Hall on Wednesday 25th November

this is the fourth game for Derek since Saturday where last night 25th November he had a trip up on the hill to watch Easthouses Lily play Hawick Royal Albert. What did Derek say about this game ?

A crisp, cool night and on a very heavy pitch, these two sides produced a cracking game of football as both sides went looking for the win from the off, but the eventual share of the spoils was probably a fair outcome. Within 90 seconds, a long clearance from the Hawick keeper saw a coming together of two players which almost fell for Swaney but home keeper Amos saw the ball ricochet straight to him. Lily responded with Brown feeding the ball to Steven whose left foot drive from 26 yards went wide of the target. On six minutes, referee Wilson had a word of warning for Langford after a late contact in midfield on Lily’s Kearney. However his teammate Hope didn’t take the warning and after a crunching challenge on seven minutes, the Hawick number 10 saw the games’ first yellow card. Immediately afterwards, a powerful run by Yardley saw him race into the home box but the angle was tight and his drive went well over. After a shot from Young missed the target for the home side, keeper Fry’s clearance was a poor one and went straight to Elliot who controlled the ball and tried to lob the keeper, but he was able to get back and recover his ground without any damage being done. Fry did well to tip a cross behind almost under his crossbar and when the next corner was cleared, Kearney’s left foot half volley from 25 yards was pulled well wide. Chandler them set up a chance at the other end for Langford but he too pulled the shot wide. On sixteen minutes, a Brown cross found Steven inside the visitors box but K Strathdee nipped in to lash the ball behind for another corner which came to nothing. A minute later, it was the visitors who opened the scoring with a brilliant opportunist goal from T Hope who received a pass in central midfield and clearly saw home keeper Amos off his line as he drove home a lobbed effort first time from fully 35 yards with the keeper helpless as the ball sailed over his head into the net. Lily responded and a snap shot from the edge of the box from McBeth saw Hawick keeper Fry diving down to his left to make the save and the keeper was involved again a minute later as he made the adjustment to hold a deflected Young corner. On 25 minutes, Taylor, Steven and Russell combined down the inside left channel and K Strathdee put the ball behind for another Lily corner as they began to up the tempo but once again Fry’s handling of the slippy ball was confident when the kick came over.
However after 26 minutes, the home sides increasing pressure paid off and it was a nice one two on the edge of the Hawick box which allowed Steven to draw keeper Fry from his line and place the ball nicely inside the left hand post from around fifteen yards to level things up. Swaney moved forward for the visitors but with options left and right, he chose to shoot but the effort lacked any power. On 29 minutes, the visitors did have the ball in the net once more, but only after the whistle had gone signifying offside. Two minutes later, D Strathdee became the second visiting player into referee Wilson’s book after the player chose to berate the club assistant for not raising his flag for what he believed was a throw in, a needless caution. After 35 minutes, a foul by Steven around 28 yards out in a central position saw Langford step up to take the kick but the contact was dreadful and a really presentable chance skewed well wide. Lily replied and after Elliot was dispossessed by K Strathdee, the ball wasn’t fully cleared and Elliot’s follow up angled drive from around 17 yards was blocked away by the knees of keeper Fry before the same player then sent a header over from a corner. T Hope was proving a handful for the home defence and he had another strong run and a low drive blocked before with three minutes to go in the half, the home side hit the front with a ball from the right flank played in and Russell collected before firing a powerful strike past keeper Fry from around sixteen yards to nudge the home side ahead just before the interval. Hawick went looking for an immediate equaliser and a long cross to the back post was retrieved by K Strathdee who then floated a lovely cross right onto the head of T Hope but his header dropped just wide of the right hand post. Right on half time, another free kick from Yardley brought out a decent save from home keeper Amos which ensured that at half time, the home side still held the advantage.
Within 30 seconds of the restart, Swaney laid the ball into the path of Yardley and his rising drive wasn’t too far over the Lily crossbar. At the other end, the home side went even closer as a tremendous 25 yard strike from Elliot pulled out a brilliant tip over from keeper Fry before the end to end action continued and Langford closed down home keeper Amos who was relieved to see the ball go wide after the Hawick striker charged down his clearance attempt. On 50 minutes, Russell then clipped a nice ball through to Young who was forced slightly wide and pulled his shot across the face of the Hawick goal. However two minutes later, the visitors were back on terms once again and it was T Hope bagging a double as he controlled a pass in from the right flank before then stroking home a really composed finish from around 15 yards giving the advancing Amos no chance. Hawick were soon attacking again and keeper Amos had to watch carefully a bouncing cross from K Strathdee on the sticky surface. Lily then saw Elliot race past D Strathdee to get to the goal line and his cutback picked out Steven but he mishit the shot and Hawick were able to clear. On the hour, Ford strode forward for Hawick but fired over before Easthouses made their first changes of the night as McBeth and Steven were replaced by Taylor and Guy. Langford then stung the fingers of home keeper Amos with a 25 yard snap shot before at the other end keeper Fry did well to hold a Taylor cross under pressure inside his goal area. T Hope then fired a 20 yarder straight at keeper Amos as he went looking for his hat trick before Young of Lily was warned by referee Wilson for carping about being pulled up for offside. A through ball almost saw T Hope through again but Amos was quickly off his line to grab the ball before at the other end, Hawick keeper Fry kept his side level with a tremendous double save and the game continued to ebb and flow.
On 68 minutes, the away side claimed for a spot kick as Langford went down in the box but referee Wilson wasn’t impressed and two minutes later the away side were desperately unlucky when Yardley moved wide and took a defender with him allowing Swaney to move into the inside left channel and from around 24 yards, he hammered a tremendous drive off the home crossbar and over, past the flailing hand of keeper Amos. Hawick then replaced M Steele and Langford with J Steele and Shankie and not long afterwards C Hope came on for Yardley. On 80 minutes, a through ball almost put J Steele in for the visitors before T Hope then fed in Ford and Amos was out bravely diving at his feet to make the save and when the ball next went out, Brown of Easthouses was cautioned for a lunging challenge on T Hope while the previous move built up. Elliot then worked the ball back to Young but the Lily forward blazed wide from the edge of the box. Five minutes from time, a Hawick corner dropped at the back post and keeper Amos made a really decent block from Swaney who hooked the ball towards goal. Three minutes from time, only a magnificent tip over save from Fry right in the postage stamp corner prevented a Young 20 yard screamer from putting Lily back in front and with a minute to go, another Hawick corner again dropped for Swaney but his effort this time was wide. Two minutes into stoppage time, a corner was swung in for Lily and McQueenie dived to send his header wide of the left hand post. On reflection, a share of the spoils in this really enjoyable encounter was probably about right as both teams had put plenty into the match and contributed hugely to a match which swung from end to end, particularly in a frantic second half which had chances galore. On a difficult surface, the standard of football on show was really decent and the managers of both sides will be able to take plenty of positives out of the manner in which both teams performed.

Easthouses Lily 2-2 Hawick Royal Albert United

Photographs taken by George Swanson at this game can be viewed here https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3656924980996132&type=3