HAVANT and Waterlooville defeated a spirited Folkestone Invicta side at the Fullicks Stadium in Kent as the race for promotion took another twist. It was a cold, damp, wet afternoon in the heart of Kent and after a long journey due to an accident on the M20, the Hawks arrived at their destination at 13:45.
Although during long traffic delays the Hawks were forced to park the bus, there was no such thing on the pitch as they came out fired up. Within the opening minute, Alfie Rutherford crossed the ball into Theo Lewis who put the ball into the back of the net, however Alfie Rutherford was deemed to have put the ball out of play before teeing up his teammate.
But that would not deter the Hawks from 3 point as just 5 minutes later Theo Lewis put the ball back in the net again, but this time it counted! As a free kick was put into the penalty area which was headed away from the Folkestone Invicta defence only as far as Lewis who slotted the ball comfortably into the bottom right hand corner for the second time this afternoon.
The Hawks would then dominate the half, with chance after chance, with that partnership of Rutherford and Lewis blossoming throughout and the consensus within the ground was that it would be a matter of when rather than if the Hawks would double their lead. The Hawks through a free kick by Brian Stock put the ball into the penalty area and there was a pinball with Woodford and Rutherford trying to get the ball past the Folkestone melee, but Folkestone got away with the score being just 1-0.
With half-hour on the clock and the news of Grays winning at Nyewood Lane, the hawks doubled their advantage as Theo Lewis down the right-hand side tees the ball into Alfie Rutherford and Rutherford from 8 yards out slotted home coolly to leave Invicta with a mountain to climb.
But Folkestone were determined to climb that mountain like Edmund Hillary ascended Everest, the 10 minutes that followed were even with play mainly centring around the middle. Then on 43 minutes, keeping to the Everest analogy were given a window of opportunity as they win a free kick following a foul by Hawks skipper Brian Stock. Then it was Sam Hasler who steps up from around 25 yards out and launches an unstoppable free kick right into the top left hand corner and like that the deficit was cut in half before the interval.
HALF-TIME: FOLKESTONE INVICTA 1-2 HAWKS
The Hawks came out for the second half looking to cement another three points in the race for promotion as the weather brought that extra bit of nip, but luckily for the Hawks fans they were housed undercover. They would be warmed up with the Hawks beginning where they left off dominating the game. However, the Hawks had a little worry within the first 5 minutes as Alfie Rutherford were forced to be replaced by Matt Paterson as a precaution.
The removal of one of the most influential players in the game saw no difference for the Hawks’ lion share in dominance, which saw the Hawks continually become a threat and increasingly so from set pieces. Many times Bradley Tarbuck would whip in a corner from the right hand side and continually the keeper or defence having to get it out there area or another goal seemed certain.
For the hard work of the ‘keeper Tim Roberts, the third goal for the Hawks was a moment which he would not like to look back at on tape as he comes up to get a ball, but Matt Paterson gets there before and with an open goal gaping he comfortably slotted it home to make the three points safer.
This was the moment where the three points were guaranteed as the rest of the encounter was played in a fashion in which saw an acceptance of the result. However, it did fire up in the final moments as in the Folkestone penalty area the two sides squared up to each other following an aerial battle.
FULL-TIME: FOLKESTONE INVICTA 1-3 HAWKS
So, then the Hawks defeated Folkestone with what was a very professional performance from start to finish and if the result itself was impressive then the results from the other sides were also helpful to the Hawks’ cause with Bognor being shocked by Grays and Leiston drawing. The results leave the Hawks third but with games in hand on the top two which if won would see them go to the league summit.
Next game: Billericay (H); 4 Feb 15:00
Attendance: 415
Henry Deacon
Henry Deacon Media 