Martyn White: Mike Carter in action against Folkestone Invicta
Mike Carter has signed a new 2 year contract to stay at the Hawks until the summer of 2019. Carter signed for the Hawks in the January transfer window after he left Gosport Borough, joining a established list of players who made the PO postcode switch. Making his debut in the 3-1 defeat to Needham Market in mid-January he just about played enough games to cement himself a league medal, having played his twelfth league encounter against Kingstonian on Saturday.
On the field he has been described as ‘Mr Horrible’ by the way that he gets the ball back and is a real thorn in the side of any opponent in which he faces, but a man that is tremendously popular on the other side of the white line with the fans and being one of the clubs true characters away from the hallowed turf. He is the third player in the last week to sign an extension as Lee Bradbury, who himself committed himself until 2019, gets his sights set on next season in the Vanarama National League South.
Martyn White: Bradley in action away to Harlow Town
Bradley Tarbuck has committed his future to Havant and Waterlooville Football Club by signing a new and improved 2 year deal. The 21 year old winger has been an influential part of the Hawks’ 2017 Ryman Premier League winning side. Having spent a month on loan at Weymouth, the minutes he got seemed to stand him in good stead for the rest of the season ahead scoring 6 goals in 29 league games, including a hattrick against AFC Sudbury and a heap of assists and goal contributions as well as winning February’s player of the month.
When Tarbuck joined the Hawks last summer from Dorchester Town, it would be his first foire back on the south coast since leaving Pompey to sign for the Southern Premier League outfit. And at 21 years of age he has shown that he is a player for the present and that his best years may still be to come. The new 2 year contract means that his services are secured until the Summer of 2019 which is further good news to Lee Bradbury’s ears following the news that Dan Strugnell has committed his future with the Hawks last week to the same time frame.
It is the most pivotal and nerve wrenching time of the season for football fans up and down the country whether it be winning championships, promotion, play-offs or surviving the dredged drop, it is a time for a whole club to unite as one towards one common goal.
At Havant and Waterlooville this seems very much the way. Attracting a 16 year Ryman League crowd of 3,455 to Westleigh Park on Monday for the victory over Bognor Regis Town, supporters have come together to head up two supporters coaches to their pivotal game away to Kingstonian on Saturday, the last game of the season with the championship on the line.
This is not the first time in recent weeks this has been the case, the Hawks supplied a supporters coach for the 0-0 away draw to Needham Market a month ago. This time around, hawks fan Andy Stonebridge has laid off a 32 seater and a 59 seater luxury coaches to Kingsmeadow for the decider with early estimations showing that one coach has already been booked up.
This type of unity is shown right through the spine of the football club, following the aforementioned 1-0 win against Bognor a mini pitch invasion took place. Unlike that of the big leagues where the stewards would push fans away like Lambs to the slaughter, the players would stop and sign autographs, shake hands and even take selfies with supporters, further highlighting the united Hawks camp. Speaking to Wes Fogden following the game he commented on how “a great feeling it is seeing everyone together, from the start of the season I and the rest of the squad always gave our best for the Football Club.”
It has been a rollercoaster 18 months for the Hawks, from facing Preston in the FA Cup and the Vanarama Conference South play-offs to the heartbreak of relegation and a famous Hampshire Senior Cup win. This season the club has rebuilt and with it at the forefront has been the passion of everyone within the club, be it players, coaches, board and fans combining together and that togetherness sees the Hawks just 90 minutes away from an immediate return to the National League South and from there, with the sprit within the club, the World is its oyster.
Harvey Bradbury has followed in the footsteps of his father Lee by joining Havant and Waterlooville in a deal believed to be until the end of the season. Following being one of a number of players being released from Pompey in the week it was a case of as one door closes another opens as he had his first taste of men’s football during the Hawks 2-0 victory against Tonbridge Angels at Westleigh Park.
Harvey has been one of the shining lights in the local footballing scene and is held in high regard by well respected characters in the game. Commenting on the signing father and manager Lee said that commenting was “hard because it’s my son” but said “I signed him on Friday just before the deadline because Pato (Matt Paterson) was out with a knock and I want to win the league and want as many options as I can to try and win a game if we need to. I want to do what is best for this Football club and I know he’s a good player and a good person to have in the dressing room.”
He made his debut in men’s football late on this afternoon and within a matter of seconds learnt about the ropes after a mini battle with Tom Phipps over his time on the field. The Hawks have three games left in the league with them be spoken about as “cup finals” by all quarters at the club and with the goal difference between the Hawks and Bognor being just a solitary goal in the Rocks’ favour, that one goal could be a league winner and having that added option of Harvey adds that dimension and as we know football has this way to coming back to signings like that.
Martyn White: Rory Williams opens the scoring against Grays on Saturday
For the Hawks they have just 8 games left in the Ryman Premier League with promotion their end result of choice. This week sees the Hawks play their game in hand and a pivotal match against Needham Market in suffolk who sit 3rd in the table and seemingly look assured of a play-off berth.
But first for Lee Bradbury’s troops is a rare but pivotal Wednesday night clash as they make the trip to Southwark, London to face a Dulwich Hamlet side which will be playing their third home game of the week. The side, with this being produced before the Monday match with Kingstonian sit 9th in the Ryman Premier League table and are one of those sides chasing Leiston and Wingate & Finchley respectively for that final passage to the play-offs in late April.
On the matter of the game, Lee Bradbury spoke to myself on Hawks Radio saturday stating that “it’ll be a tough game, they are expected to be up there at the end of the season, so it will be a tough game.” When Dulwich Hamlet take to the field on Monday night, the Hawks will be partaking in a training session to ensure their are fully ready for what will be a tough task in hand.
The task will be tricky, Hamlet progressed to the Quarter-finals of the FA Trophy, taking Macclefield Town, who this weekend made the Wembley final, to a replay after a credible 2-2 draw, losing out at Moss Rose to the National League side. They are also unbeaten in their last six league outings with credible draws against Bognor, Leiston and Tonbridge and a win against Needham Market to boot in a tough run of fixtures. If that wasn’t an indication on the quality opposition the Hawks are up against they beat National League Braintree 5-2 in that same FA Trophy run.
However with the exception of the defeat to Harrow which was described as a “catastrophy” by manager Lee Bradbury, results are coming at the right end of the season as they have gained 13 points from a possible 18 and have notched 17 goals in the process. Jason Prior has just moved ahead of the injured 18 year old Alfie Rutherford in the Bognor Golden boot battle, with the defence staying resolute between the sticks.
Martyn White: Rutherford (right) has been out with a ankle injury
Team News:
Alfie Rutherford and Dan Strugnell are both still out with their respective injuries with Dan Strugnell telling us that he hopes to be another week before he is back in the side. Alfie pulled up during the defeat to Harrow Borough with his ankle and is not expected to start the game.
Travel Information:
Game takes place WEDNESDAY at 19:45 at Champion Hill Stadium, Edgar Kail Way, London SE22 8BD and we look forward to seeing as many Hawks as possible especially as Dulwich tend to get many attendances over the 1,000 mark. Manager Lee Bradbury and his players are always appreciative of all fans that do turn up to away games and the support that sees them over the line and in a crucial week, they would love to start it with a huge contingent cheering them to 3 points. Tickets cost £10 Adults and £4 Concessions, with under 13’s entering for FREE.
Finally:
This is the start to a pivotal week, a week which could decide the fate of our season and we hope to see many Hawks fans travel or if not listen to radio commentary and also pre and post match engage with the club’s social feeds and as one final message from the famous words of Trevor Brock…
Laurence Lustig/ PDC: Hashimoto at the 2011 PDC World Darts Championships.
Japanese Darts star Morihiro Hashimoto has died suddenly at the age of 40. A star in the soft tip game, which has unpresented popularity across Asia, first came to the attention of the Darting spheres when he made the 2011 PDC World Darts Championship at London’s Alexandra Palace. After winning through his preliminary round match he would face Gary Anderson in the first round proper. He would soon become a fans favourite within the Alexandra Palace with fans chanting ‘du, du, du du… Hashimoto’ throughout.
And it would be typical for him to walk onto the song in which they were chanting to ‘Reach up’ by Perfecto Allstarz. He would go on to lose the game but win the hearts of the Darting globe.
After representing his country Japan at the PDC World Cup of Darts and playing in the World Series in Tokyo it was the soft tip game where Mohihiro made his name. He was an near on ever present at the latter stages of the Softtip live events across Asia and Las Vegas and one of the best players in soft tip history not to win a big softip live title.
It was confirmed by his promoter on Facebook that he passed following “sudden internal bleeding to the brain.” His family have also asked for their privacy at this heart-breaking moment .
BELOW ARE TRIBUTES FROM THE DARTS SCENE ON TWITTER:
Paul Nicholson: Former Players Championship winner and Channel 4/ BT Sport pundit
So sad to hear of the sudden passing of Mr Hashimoto. What a character he was for the game of darts, and he'll be fondly remembered. #darts
— Paul “The Asset” Nicholson (@TheAsset180) March 13, 2017
Shaun Wilkinson’s recent exit from Gosport Borough has cast yet another spell on what has been a grey season at the Ariel Direct Stadium. He replaced Mick Caitlin as Alex Pike’s number 2 last month after 9 years in the post. But in his first interview since his departure he told Portsmouth News’ Kevin Ricketts that he couldn’t continue due to work commitments.
He said that “I am away a lot with my job and it is far too big a task to tackle part time”. Too big a task is a phase in which he isn’t using lightly, since rumours about the club’s of the pitch speculation, the club has been in freefall after a promising start to the season they have not won a game since October and are now staring relegation to the seventh tier in the face.
He went on to say that the slide in which Gosport are experiencing is something that they need to arrest and quickly explaining that “avoiding relegation is a huge job and if Borough don’t start winning games then it will be curtains”. The first of those games in which the Privett Park side need to win is a crucial relegation six pointer up against bottom of the table Margate tomorrow. Should there be a lose to the clash, then they will face an uphill struggle for survival in English Football’s sixth tier.
The problem is much harder especially if the side are relying of a number of “favours”. Wilkinson went on to tell The News that “I had to call in a number of favours to get some players. It is not easy though with a number of loan players due to go back to their parent club”. Such insecurities has seen a number of players come and go and an exodus of players over the last 6 months to local clubs, namely Moneyfields and Havant and Waterlooville.
The club has been plagued with financial troubles off the pitch, with a takeover bid from Jimmy Fallon failing in August and then a failed takeover at Christmas, avoiding relegation is crucial for Gosport as relegation with one of Havant and Waterlooville and Bognor to take one or two of the promotion slots available, there is not many other money spinning options in the seventh tier.
For Gosport they have a crucial game in their fight to stay in the Vanarama National League South at Margate, a 6 pointer with lots riding on it, can the Borough finally pick up that elusive win to help kick start their season or will it be Margate who wil get of he foot of the table.
Henry Deacon Media 