LYMINGTON & NEW MILTON F.C.

Match Report 2000/2001 Three in Ten keep Linnets on track Saturday 30th September 2000 : Jewson Wessex League Lymington & New Milton 5, Swanage Town & Herston 0

Wessex league newcomers Swanage must have feared this encounter with the Linnets boasting a 100% league record and they were up against it right from the kick-off. With only 3 minutes on the clock, a cross from the left by Leigh Phillips found the visiting defence all at sea and Matt Town scored from close in. The score should have been doubled five minutes later as Stride beat 'keeper Burton outside his area and crossed but this time Town's downwards header bounced firmly back up and rebounded off the crossbar.

Although Swanage countered, with Vye heading over despite being well positioned, the bulk of the action was at the opposite end; with Leigh Phillips' header going wide, Town's drive charged down and Huxford shooting over. A quick break by the visitors caused some embarassment to Linnets 'keeper Kearn but the final shot was scrambled away for a corner which came to nothing.

Back on the attack, the Linnets sought to increase their lead and looked to have done so when Town put in a powerful shot, but it was saved at full-stretch by Burton. Grace then saw a 25 yard shot skim the crossbar and it seemed as if Swanage needed all hands to the pumps just to weather the storm until half-time. However, just before the break, a ball over the top of the home defence caused Kearn to make a fine save and prevent the visitors from gaining a largely undeserved equaliser.

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

Not wishing to have so much hard effort go to waste, the Linnets pressed for further goals right from the restart with an inswinging cross from Brett Phillips ending in a glancing header from Leigh Phillips that grazed the far post. Nine minutes into the half, the pressure finally told when a free-kick by Smith from just outside the area was met by Leigh Phillips who headed firmly down into the net. Having breached the dam, the home side pressed for further reward and achieved it within minutes as Brett Phillips wriggled free of a defender's attentions to unleash a shot which found it's way into the top corner of the visitor's net, having taken a fatal deflection off Swanage defender Selby en route. The Linnets then made it three goals in ten minutes when Mark Smith shot home from a tight angle after a well executed one-two with Leigh Phillips.

Despite replacing Huxford and Brett Phillips with Strong and Gazzard, there was no let-up in the assault on the Swanage goal. Mottashed rose highest to put a header inches wide, then a cross from the by-line by Stride was met by Leigh Phillips whose powerful header grazed the bar. A measure of the home side's superiority was shown just before full-time when, reduced to 10 men after Grace had been forced to hobble off and all three substitutes already used, they still managed to set up Steve Strong who rifled in a shot from the edge of the box to complete the scoring and round off a controlled all-round display.

Lymington & New Milton : Kearn, Stride, Kemp, Morris, B. Phillips, Mottashed, Huxford, Grace, L. Phillips, Town, Smith,  subs : Sims, Strong, Gazzard.

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.