Next Match – Havant & W’looville – Home
Following their win at Dulwich, City continue their hectic month with the visit of Havant & Waterlooville to Twerton Park on Tuesday evening.
The Hampshire club have resided in the table’s top three throughout the season but realistically they are competing with Dartford for the runners up spot as they trail Ebbsfleet by fourteen points.
At the same time on Saturday as Elliot Frear’s cross was deceiving the Dulwich keeper, Sam Matthews was scoring the late winner as the Hawks won a ding dong affair 3-2 against Taunton.
This must have been sweet revenge as the Somerset club had ended Havant’s proud unbeaten away record only a fortnight earlier.
And then four days later they went on to lose a second match at Ebbsfleet which surely put an end to any lingering title hopes.
Despite those two set backs Havant have looked impressive on their travels and their eight wins include maximum returns at rivals Dartford and Chelmsford.
It was therefore surprising that they crashed out of the FA Trophy at Welling to follow up a shock dismissal in the Cup by lowly Weymouth.
Paul Dowson’s team certainly knows where the goal is and average over two per match with Muhammadu Faal, Callum Kealy, James Robert and Charlie Ruff scoring fifty between them.
But it was Josh Passley who broke City’s hearts with his injury time equaliser to steal a point when the two clubs met at Westleigh Park on a Tuesday evening back in October.
In one of the most entertaining matches of the season Scott Wilson’s double had looked to be the difference but it wasn’t to be as Jerry Gill’s team had to settle for a draw.
So fans of both sides would be wise not to depart before the final whistle on Tuesday given the number of late goals scored and conceded by their teams this season!
The Hawks have made fifteen visits to Twerton in the League, starting in 2000, with City’s record standing at seven wins, five draws and three defeats.
The highlight for the Hampshire club came in 2001 with a 5-2 win but goals shared by Dave Pratt, Andy Watkins and Frankie Artus gained a memorable 5-0 victory for City in 2015.
Last season’s match at Twerton was played on Good Friday when a late penalty conceded by Dan Ball saw Manny Duku strike the bar and enable City to come away with a valuable 0-0 draw in their relegation struggle.
Tickets can be bought in advance of the match from the City website.