Young Hawks flying with two wins from two
U18 Hawks 2 Bognor Regis Town 1
Match report: George Bryant-Nichols
Bognor Regis Town’s U18 side made the lengthy trip east to the Terrapura on Monday night to take on a Whitehawk side filled with confidence after victory last time out in the Anderson Travel Isthmian Youth League South.
The Hawks came out of the blocks with great confidence, looking to make it two wins from two, albeit with their opponents from Bognor Regis their equals in the first 15 minutes. Toby Reeder looked to break the deadlock with two long range sighters on goal, but failed to trouble Bognor’s man between the sticks Ethan Galea.
Reeder’s omnipresence in front of goal proved decisive for the Hawks in the 21st minute, completing a dream start for the team with a solid finish, dispatching a headed delivery by Sonny Weber from the edge of the box. Whitehawk 1, Town 0.
After the concession of a goal, the Town players seemed to grow into the game more, piling forward in search of a goal to restore parity. In the 28th minute, Whitehawk were undone by a Bognor corner, failing to successfully clear the ball, and fell victim to a scrappy goal – poked in at the near post by Thomas Holland. A goal is a goal, and this one brought Bognor Regis Town level inside 30 minutes – Whitehawk 1, Town 1.
The scrappy concession of a goal seemed to galvanise the young Hawks, with several chances falling their way as they were on the brink of putting their side back in the driving seat of this match. The most notable chance of which being absolute liquid football from the team from Whitehawk, with another Reeder strike well saved by Galea, after an Ossie O’Neill run facilitated by Leo Teasdale’s ball produced a good cross.
It wasn’t much longer to wait before Whitehawk found themselves once again in the lead, with the ever present Reeder there to meet a pin-point cross and guide his header into the bottom left hand corner of the Town goal – 39 minutes played, Whitehawk 2, Town 1.
As the half-time whistle blew, the Hawks went in with the advantage at the break, deservedly considering the barrage of chances that they had rained down on the Town defence in that exciting first period.
The second half began in more of a sedentary fashion, with neither side presenting a major chance to score early on – the Hawks fought well to maintain their lead, as Bognor Regis attempted to press forward when possible.
The Hawks came centimetres away from securing a third goal, with a strong Matt Godfrey header clipping the post, after a well worked corner routine.
Whitehawk continued to defend resolutely in the second half as Town becoming stronger and stronger in search of that vital equaliser, but the visitors were unable to get in behind the Whitehawk back line. Teasdale, a strong contender for man-of-the-match, was forced out of the game with a badly injured ankle on 75 minutes, when he was brought down by Oliver Rhydon, a challenge which earned the Bognor no8 a yellow card. Although the Hawks left back was able to hobble away after lengthy treatment, a hospital visit later in the evening confirmed a broken ankle.
With a chance for Luke O’Neil the only other notable event in the last fifteen, Whitehawk secured the 2-1 victory to make it two wins in two for the in-form team. This result means that Whitehawk move up to seventh in the table, leapfrogging their opponents from last time out (Horsham YMCA). A serious challenge will await next week, as they take on top of the table Worthing, looking to spoil their impressive 100% record in the league so far this season.
