Hamble Club 3 Portland United 1

15 April 2025

Season definitely drawing to a close now… four more reports from me before I sign off, starting with this one – a bit of a random game, but a hugely important one for the hosts.  Hamble had a brilliant start to the season, and for a long time were Portchester’s closest pursuers (albeit Stoneham had games in hand).  But then the Monks had a blip, or least something like a blip, and both the Purps and Fareham went past them, and now it’s a dogfight for the playoff positions behind those two.  Hamble went into this knowing that two wins would guarantee them one of those spots.  Portland, on the other hand, having just missed out on the playoffs last season, have had a really disappointing campaign and, while safe, have been anchored in the bottom half of the table pretty much all year.  (Remind you of anyone, Badgers fans?)

So, here we are, Abbey Stadium for the fourth time this year – and not a bad game for the neutral.  An unexpected start: Portland pushed forward down the left, Beale’s shot was saved but not cleared, a follow-up header blocked on the line but Toms smashed the rebound home from a couple of yards to give the Blues an early lead – not in the script.  Back came the Monks, a neat move, ball played into Gange inside the box… he had his back to the goal and had “a lot to do”, but a brilliant turn was followed by a brilliant shot into the top corner.  1-1 and not yet five minutes on the clock!  Two minutes later, Joe Johnson had a free header at a corner for the hosts but it sailed wide of the far post… and while Hamble largely took control of the game, Portland’s defence, which had looked all at sea for the first few minutes, calmed down and got more organised; suddenly proper chances were at a premium. Gange might have given the hosts the lead midway through the half, a cross from Douglas and his good shot excellently saved by Goad; Douglas then got in behind the defence chasing after a long ball, but he was stretching to reach it and could only lift it up, over the bar and into the trees.  And into injury time, a bit of pinball in the Portland box, a couple of blocks, Hamilton with the final shot deflected just wide of the far post.  HT 1-1

During the break, someone had reminded Hamble that they were in fifth and had something to play for.  The hosts started in much more determined fashion, and suddenly the gulf between the two sides became very obvious.  Portland weren’t exactly hanging on, but they were struggling to retain possession and were only rarely getting over the halfway line.  For all that, they were defending solidly enough, looking quite organised, and Hamble were struggling to find the final pass.  And then, 62 minutes, a foul from Coat: late, the most obvious yellow you could wish to see.  But more serious punishment was to follow – the free-kick was played into the box, Joe Johnson with a free header, hosts in front.  As the Content Adviser commented, after all the huffing and puffing to little effect, it looked incredibly easy.  Within 90 seconds, the game was done – another Hamble corner, it bounced inside the box and rose higher than anyone expected on the rock-hard ground, Hamilton just got a head on it and the ball fell almost apologetically into the far corner.  It never seemed likely that Portland were going to score two to get back in the game, and sure enough they didn’t seriously threaten to do so.  Hamble might have added to their lead on 73, an excellent move led by the impressive Hamilton from the back, the final cross headed home by Douglas but he was flagged for offside; shame.  And then what could have been the comedy moment of the night, with a minute to go – one long ball forward for Hamble, a defender rose to head it away on the edge of his own box but the header went behind him and crashed off his own post with Goad nowhere!  But the ball rebounded to safety, and that was pretty much that.  FT 3-1

Quite a fun game, the win puts Hamble Club in pole position for a playoff spot, and the win for Andover New Street elsewhere tonight might well get them over the line too (they must be exhausted!).  And congratulations to Stoneham on winning the Servio Hampshire Senior Cup with a handsome 3-0 triumph over Portchester.  And let’s look forward to matchday 38…