Rampant Blues Cruise to Three Points Against Musselmen
The Heath returned to Hanbury Park determined to make amends for their bank holiday loss with a game against newly promoted Shoreham. Lovett made 5 changes from the team that started against Steyning with Cadman, Uwezu, Riddington and Zydonik being given a starting berth alongside Steven Phillips making his debut in goal replacing the injured Jones. Riddington making his first start for the club after an impressive performance from the bench last time out.
The Blues started fast and had won a corner as early as the first minute after a strong run down the right from Cam Dobell. It was mostly one way traffic in the opening exchanges with Shoreham pinned back in their own half, and it felt as if Heath might score every time they went forward. Hayden Skerry was nearly able to open the scoring in the 13th minute but his fierce drive from the left hand side of the box was well saved by Southam in the Shoreham goal.
The deadlock was finally broken in the 18th minute when Dan Cadman exchanged passes with Skerry on the left wing, drove into the box and his cross left Cameron Dobel with the simplest of finishes to put the Blues one up. Heath had a chance to double their lead in the 29th minute when a Shoreham defender inexplicably handled in the box following a Heath corner. Captain Napper was unable to convert though with his shot narrowly missing the left hand post.
Heath did have the ball in the net 10 minutes later as Skerry chased a defected cross, centred the ball from the righthand side and Uwezu finished. The Assistant judged the ball had crossed out of play and awarded a corner rather than a goal. This led to further controversy as from the Heath’s next attack, Zydonik returned the ball into the box, Uwezu then played a lofted pass for Cadman to finish. The referee had however spotted a push on Brown and awarded a penalty prior to the ball crossing the line. The push on Brown sending him tumbling into a Shoreham defender and starting a melee in the box. After consultation with his assistant the referee deciding to re-start play with a free kick to Shoreham, this reporter too confused to comment any further on what happened here.
Shoreham’s Carter-Millar deciding to extract further revenge a couple of minutes later with a dreadful knee high slash at Brown led to the Musselmen playing the remaining half with 10 men.
The second half again started with Heath in the ascendancy, but unable to convert the chances they were creating. Just as nerves were starting to build in some areas of the Heath faithful, Tom Cadman broke into midfield with the ball, exploited the space and found Uwezu on the edge of the box who’s well placed shot doubled Heath’s advantage.
This was to prove the turning point in the game as Shoreham’s resistance crumbled and Heath’s strike force sensed opportunities at every turn. First Dobell was able to make a run into the box to get on the end of a Britton cross to make it three, before substitute Abudiore was able to react quickest to a rebound from a McCarthy shot.
A mix up at the back led to a poor back pass and Shoreham got a consolation goal much to the ire of the Heath players and management. Normal service was resumed soon after as Uwezu converted from a strong run and cross from Abudiore for his second of the game. Skerry was able to cap his performance with a goal in the 89th minute turning the ball home at the far post after more great play from Abudiore, and the afternoon was complete in the last minute of injury time when Uwezu turned in a cross from the right flank at the near post.
A comprehensive victory for the Blues who now look forward to games away at Pagham midweek and at home today.
