On a pitch cutting up all over and played in treacherous conditions, Weston were unable to prevent a Havant side, pushing for the top of the table, scoring two second-half goals from getting the win.
An Ash Kington side-footed volley from 25 yards didn’t trouble Hawks keeper Ryan Young in the early exchanges of the game, as the pitch was struggled to cope with the non-stop rain.
The Seagulls lost Gethyn Hill to a suspected injury just nine minutes into the game, with Mohamed Baghdadi coming on to replace him, and Kenan Dunnwald moved in to a spot through the middle of the front three, joining Tristan Plummer on the left and Baghdadi on the right.
Weston kept the ball well in what can only be described as their most “dull” game of the season with little happening over the course of the 90 minutes. Young was forced to tip over the bar after his own player had tried to clear a Weston corner with his head, and Plummer’s shot from just inside the box was deflected out for a corner.
Following the interval, Havant took the lead inside the opening 60 seconds. A cross came in and Jason Prior’s header rebounded off the crossbar. In the goalmouth scramble that followed, Wes Fogden, who had been playing in the hole behind the two strikers, nodded in on the goal-line to put the Iron ahead.
Just after the hour mark, Havant made it two. From the edge of the box, Prior’s audacious lob from the edge of the area came back off the crossbar again. From the rebound, a cross was swung back in and target man Prior rose excellently to nod across Purnell and into the far corner to double his side’s advantage.
Before the end, Purnell made a good stop to deny Alfie Rutherford after he had got beyond Jason Pope and Jake Lee. Over the 90 minutes, Weston were unlucky to not get anything from the game, playing the ball around well in tricky, poor and potentially dangerous conditions.
FT: Havant & Waterlooville 2-0 Weston (Fogden 47, Prior 62)
Weston XI: Purnell, Harper, Greenslade, Cane (C), Pope, Lee, Scott (Welch 71), Kington, Hill (Baghdadi 9), Plummer, Dunnwald. Unused subs: Laird, Parsons.
MOTM: Jacob Cane – Considering the skipper was playing in central midfield, the mudbath of Havant’s pitch, Caney did exceptionally well to dictate the play and keep things ticking over.