Saturday, January 18 . 3pm . The Powerday Stadium
Hanwell Town 1 (Waight 43 )
Tiverton Town 1 (Britton 23)
Pitching In Southern League Premier Division South
THIS game saw a much-needed response following the defeat to bottom-placed Marlow the previous Tuesday evening. Under usual circumstances, this result would be received pretty well, picking up a draw against a side just below halfway away from home. However, Frome who are directly below us, won away at Winchester, and Plymouth Parkway, with their success at Marlow, have now put some distance between us.
Not having the injured Dylan Jones available meant chances for others to impress. New signing Dan Koita was on the bench and Gabe Billington retained his place in the starting line-up, as did Jeff Forkuo. Joining them in midfield was captain Matt Britton, on his return to match fitness. Marcus Day was amongst the replacements.
The Yellows made a purposeful start and settled into the game much quicker than their hosts. First to the ball and more accurate when in possession, in the sixth minute, a ball lifted over the top was collected by the nimble Joe Parker, who raced away from his markers and shot across goalkeeper Sam Beasant cutting in from about 18 yards out. Beasant managing a decent save to keep things on an even keel.

Parker was a constant threat on the afternoon, with excellent movement, ability on the ball, and work-rate. The determined Yellows found a good groove and were in the ascendancy when, in the 14th minute, Parker’s run down Hanwell’s right channel was spotted. Tiverton poured forward in support and the former Gloucester City man squared to Gabe Billington. For a split second, an opportunity existed for the Exeter loanee midfielder but, as he danced his way into the box, his attempt was met by two attentive Geordie defenders with a strong barrier blocking the ball away.
In the early exchanges Tivvy held the upper hand, but the game evened itself out and suddenly it opened up for our hosts and a clear chance was squandered. A Hanwell forward firing high and wide, with only Joe Duncan to beat.
There was a real ebb and flow to the game at that point and a spell of probing attacks from Hanwell saw the Yellows retaliate as we continued to have plenty of joy down our hosts’ right. Britton was winning tackles in the middle of the park and Billington was classily distributing passes and manipulating the ball impressively.
On 23 minutes, the Yellows shifted the play to the other wing and the accelerating Niall Thompson's progress was stopped before he could get to the dead-ball line. Taking the resulting free-kick, his delivery in went high and deep beyond the back post and was dipping when a brilliantly guided header across from Asa Hall, going back where it came from, was bulleted home by the head of Matt Britton. It was an explosive set-piece.

Going a goal down seemed to galvanise our opponents and the Geordies forced a couple of corners with an incisive passage of play. This culminated in a powerful effort from one of their midfielder’s being blocked and 16-goal striker Jordan Edwards failing to finish when well placed to add to his tally.
With almost 40 minutes on the clock, the Yellows’ rapidly broke. The ball was played into Parker’s path, but his threaded pass through to strike partner Nat Jarvis was slightly overhit and was comfortably dealt with by Hanwell. Then a superb piece of interplay involving Sam Gleeson, Britton, Billington and Parker ended with Hall thundering an effort past the post.
Less than a minute later though, the teams were on equal terms. A swift attacking move ending with Joseph Waight dispatching a close-range effort beyond goalkeeper Joe Duncan, a frustrating conclusion to an otherwise very good half from the visitors.
Back on the front foot when the second half began, in the 49th minute, we could not have come closer to regaining the lead.
When a striker is going through a bit of a goal drought, the last thing needed is a world class save denying them. Parker did everything right as he bought himself a yard to fashion himself into a scoring position. From the angle, his sidefooted effort that was heading into the opposite corner low down saw Beasant get the tips of his fingers on it as it agonisingly went about a centimetre past the post.

This let-off for our hosts sparked them into action, forcing a throw and a long corner. The assured Duncan and his defence, with the resilient Down and Josh Jones, stood firm. The execution for a dangerous free-kick was also wayward and that eased the pressure.
Thompson, who seemed to have a licence to surge forward in the second half, galloped into the box after cutting in from the wing but was dispossessed as he threatened. This spurred the ex-Torquay professional on and, on the hour mark, another blistering run almost bore fruit, but misfortune saw the ball rebound off of him and out for a goal-kick for the Geordies.
In a keenly contested game, a little more pressure was applied by our hosts and then the rapid Day, with a tremendous piece of trickery out wide, saw a corner awarded for the Yellows. In the aftermath of a frantic spell of pinball in the Hanwell area, the ball found its way to Day whose thumping shot brought another very good save from Beasant.
Day, who had lit up the match, then, with another bit of fine wing play, ended with him dropping a shoulder and putting in an inviting cross that just evaded a posse of onrushing Yellows.
Dan Koita, making his Tiverton debut, entered proceedings for Parker, who, other than scoring, was at his very best in this game.
That was in the 77th minute and, three minutes later, Duncan produced a worldie of his own. A vicious effort from Hanwell midfielder Dan Carr was, for all intents and purposes, heading for the top corner at very short notice. Duncan, winner of November and December’s player of the month awards, backpedalled and sprang across his goal to produce a breathtaking save to palm away with a strong hand, widely applauded by the Hanwell fans.
Then, a ball over the top in the 80th minute, gave Koita the opportunity to show his pace as he outstripped his marker, and only the alert Beasant, who had a head start on the new signing, prevented him from a debut goal with a coming together.

Kai Churchley replaced Jarvis a few minutes later as both sides looked in vain for a winner. We did have to endure a bit of cavalry charge at the end of the game, but a strong rearguard from the Yellows saw them shut out their hosts.
There was little to fault in this display from the Yellows, for whom there were many strong performances: a very promising showing from Sam Gleeson at left-back; an accomplished performance from the creative Billington in midfield; and a good little cameo from Koita, in addition to who I have previously mentioned.
All is most definitely not lost with 16 games remaining. The spirit in the side was very evident, but this is a results business. Wimborne deservedly have beaten us twice this season and they are next on Saturday at the Ian Moorcroft Stadium. Everybody knows what we need to do and we will try again at the weekend.
Yellows: Duncan; Thompson, J Jones, Down, Gleeson, Hall, Britton, Forkuo, Billington, Jarvis, Parker. Substitutes: Day, Churchley, Cummins, Koita, Bernard.

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