Hamble Club 3 New Milton Town 0

21 February 2026

Yet another blank Saturday!  2026 really hasn’t done the fixtures secretary any favours, has it.  Nothing daunted, scour the morning updates, see what else might be on.  East Cowes Vict- no.  Sherborne To- no, lovely ground but a devil of a journey.  OK, something closer to home: Hamble Club v New Milton Town, which failed an initial pitch inspection but was then passed by the match referee and in truth, it was a very decent surface, even with the incessant rain in the second half.  Quite a few ex-Badgers on display too – two for the Monks and no fewer than four for the Brickies, although different eras – I think only two of them will ever have shared a pitch at the Meadens.  For a team who are again destined for the playoffs, the crowd of just 75 must have been a disappointment, especially when a couple of them were random neutrals…

Hamble Club ran out pretty comfortable winners in the end – there wasn’t much between the teams except that one scored goals and the other didn’t, and in football that tends to be quite a significant difference!  The visitors brought energy and determination, but the Johnson boys were dominant in the home defence, ably supported by Hamilton, and the Monks just had that bit more in front of goal.  To be fair, in the opening stages you’d have been hard-pressed to identify which team was in second and which was second to bottom, and it was the Brickies who came closest – Carswell poked goalwards, excellent reflex save from Henry Newman, and then Niall Dixon with a powerful shot straight at the keeper.  But Hamble then had a golden opportunity of their own on 19 minutes – Braydon Douglas taken out by Broad in the box, the easiest penalty decision you’ll ever see… but Casey’s shot was tame and grabbed by Lloyd Thomas.  Now the chances started to stack up for the Monks: Leo Taylor with an excellent run, well tackled by Pearce-Eavis, and then Taylor again hooking a bouncing ball just wide of the post.  And then nine minutes before the break a lovely Hamble move, Douglas in space on the right, perfect cross and Casey rose – like a gammon, was it Toby? – at the far post to head home.  In all seriousness – great cross, great leap, great header.  And then just before the interval, a chance for the visitors – Broad with a clever pass, Pearce-Eavis stealing in round the back on the volley – side-netting.  It would have been a sensational goal and perhaps New Milton needed that… HT 1-0

Hamble came out with a bit more urgency in the second half and should have extended their lead – Honeysett lashed a shot wide of the far post when well-placed, and James Johnson headed over when unmarked at a corner.  But on 54 they did duly get their second – a corner cleared but returned into the box and headed home by Honeysett.  More seemed likely to follow, Ollie Lovell and Joel Ghosh combined – Lovell with the shot, well saved… then a sweeping move, Douglas with the ball to the back post, Ghosh sliding in but his effort unluckily came back off the bar.  Ghosh again, to Lovell, shot wide: the Brickies remained energetic but weren’t able to create a meaningful chance despite the industry of Pearce-Eavis down the right with some great crosses… midway through the half, a free kick, played to Lowes in the middle of the pitch with lots of space but he shot tamely wide, and that was as close as the visitors got.  Ten minutes from time, Burns missed a defensive header, superb last-ditch interception from Louis Moore ahead of Douglas, but on 87 sub Omarion Mason held the ball near the halfway line and intelligently delayed his pass before sending Douglas clear on the right… and he ran into the box and hit a powerful which went through Thomas to round off the scoring.  FT 3-0

Not a bad way to spend an afternoon, despite the weather.  Johnson + Johnson (I don’t suppose anyone’s ever been brave enough to call them Talc?) were excellent – James got a booking for a challenge which to me didn’t even look like a foul, but they won every header and I think you’d probably have to make one of them man of the match.  Always good to see Matt Casey, and also Ells – he deserved better.  Hamble are efficient, no doubt about it, and they do have some players I enjoy watching (Case, obviously, but Braydon Douglas and Joel Gosh are both really talented too).  New Milton weren’t terrible, but the trouble for the Brickies is that they’re still seven points below the drop line (with a much inferior goal difference) and they only have nine games to go, where others have many more.  Based on this afternoon, that’s probably a bit too much of a stretch.

For me, I hope, back to Grigg Lane on Tuesday, and the visit of East Cowes Vics…