LYMINGTON & NEW MILTON F.C.

Match Report 2000/2001 Third trio from Phillips does the trick Saturday 6th January 2001 : Hants Senior Cup Round 3 Lymington & New Milton 6, Horndean 0

If further evidence was needed of manager Derek Binns' willingness to rotate his squad to achieve the best result, then this was probably it. Coming on as a half-time substitute for Stuart Hussey, Linnets' top-scorer Leigh Phillips notched a hat-trick (his third of the season) inside 11 second-half minutes; as Lymington & New Milton overcame Hampshire Leaguers Horndean at Fawcetts Field. The Linnets therefore progress to the quarter-finals of the Hampshire Senior Cup were they will meet Newport from the Doctor Marten's League in another home tie.

With the pitch looking in good condition, (despite the recent weather), both sides attempted to play attractive football and some extremely slick passing by the home side produced early chances for Nick Miles and Stuart Hussey. With the Linnets settling into a effective passing groove, the visitors worked hard in an attempt to disrupt the pattern. They probably thought that they had coped quite well with the expected early onslaught until just after the half-way point of the first-half, when a flowing move involving Stride, Brett Phillips and Stuart Hussey set up Mark Smith on the edge of the Horndean area, from where he drove home an excellent shot for the opening goal.

Undeterred by this setback, the visitors kept plugging away and some slack marking by the home defence let in Longhurst, whose shot on goal brought a good save from Linnets' 'keeper Kearn, at the expense of a corner; which was comfortably cleared. Horndean's pressure game started to tell on the match which thus evolved into a midfield scrap, with the referee's whistle being the most notable feature. The result was a number of yellow cards being shown and the remainder of the half was played out in this fashion as the visitors seemed to have found the measure of the home side's attack, while the Linnets seemed content to coast on the back of their one goal lead.

Half-Time : L. & N.M., 1 Horndean 0

That was all to change in the second-half as Leigh Phillips was introduced and his style posed the visiting defence a different set of problems from those they had encountered earlier. Lymington & New Milton now pressed forward with some urgency and Horndean were hard-pressed to keep out their attacks. To further 'freshen-up' the pattern, Holmes and Mottashed came on in place of Smith and Morris, as the home side tried to turn up the heat on their, by now, hard-pressed opponents. This pressure eventually told and on 62 minutes, a cross by Strong was met by Leigh Phillips with a low diving header that went in just inside the far post.

Within five minutes, the tie was effectively won for the Linnets as first Horndean's Austin was sent off for a second bookable offence and this was followed on 70 minutes by Leigh Phillips' second goal, when he took advantage of a goalmouth scramble to net from close range. Three minutes later, Leigh Phillips completed his hat-trick with an effort that was almost a replica of his second goal.

Lymington & New Milton were now completely in control and but for some fine work by the visiting 'keeper and the intervention of the woodwork, the score would have increased dramatically. As it was, Paul Gazzard and Steve Strong found the net with two late goals and a final flourish right on full-time was denied by an offside call.

Manager Derek Binns said : "I don't think the result was ever in doubt. To give them their due, they worked very hard and in the first-half I felt that we were going through the motions a little bit. But we were a much better side after half-time and tore them apart. We got what we deserved in the end." He went on to say : "Because the League Cup and Russell Cotes Cup are suspended for the time being, you need a little bit of cup interest. The Hampshire Senior Cup is obviously not our priority but it's a good distraction."

Lymington & New Milton : Kearn, Stride, Gazzard, Kemp, Morris (Mottashed 55), B. Phillips, M. Hussey, Smith, S. Hussey (L. Phillips 45), Strong, N. Miles (Holmes 55).

Match reports on this site are based on those appearing in the New Milton Advertiser & Lymington Times (except where separately credited) with additional material from my own resources where relevant.