Havant & Waterlooville Match Preview
City travel to Hampshire on Saturday to take on Havant & Waterlooville with supporters hoping that the disappointing recent away form can be improved.
The Hawks have made an inconsistent start to the season, currently sitting in eighth position with 23 points from their 13 matches. Away form has not been a problem with five wins achieved, but less than half of the available points have been secured at Westleigh Park where both Oxford City and Slough Town have been victorious.
It is in knock out football where Paul Doswell’s team have so far excelled. Victories over Beaconsfield and Billericay in the FA Cup led to a far tougher looking visit to Torquay United. However, a 2-2 draw was followed by an excellent 4-2 replay win to set up a visit to Charlton Athletic in the 2nd Round.
Despite going down 4-0 at The Valley to their League One opponents the Hawks were one of three National League South clubs to reach this stage of the competition. However, they joined the band of ten who were eliminated at the first stage of the Trophy last Saturday when they lost 1-0 at Slough Town.
City and The Hawks have been regular opponents this century but fourteen league visits have only seen three City wins, the last in 2017 when goals by Marvin Morgan and Connor Lemonheigh-Evans secured a 2-1 victory. But the most memorable came in 2004 when a Scott Partridge hat-trick contributed to a 4-1 win.
This will be our first visit to Westleigh Park (and its new 3G surface) for just over two years when an Adam Mann goal could not prevent a 2-1 reverse with both home goals being hotly disputed by the visitors.
We met twice at Twerton Park last season with the Hawks strolling to victory in the FA Cup but in the League encounter back in January City gave their best home performance of the curtailed season. In what was to be the final match and which saw Alex Fletcher’s debut, Tom Mehew and Tom Smith scored the goals and Ryan Clarke saved a penalty to achieve a fine win.
The Westleigh Park ground has seen many improvements since our first visit and is covered on all four sides. The best view of the match is probably from behind the goals as the touchlines are flanked by floodlight pylons.
It would be fair to say that Havant as a town is not on many tourists’ itinerary but any supporters wishing to make a long day or weekend of our visit should note that historic Portsmouth is close by.
The 90 mile trip from Bath will take around two hours. Unfortunately, there has been insufficient interest for a Supporters Club coach to run.
The train journey from Bath Spa takes a similar time with one change and a twenty minute walk to the ground from Havant station.
Whichever means of travel you use to get to the match, have a safe journey and hopefully see us continue to climb the table.
