The Draw for the BetVictor World Matchplay Darts championship takes place later on this evening from Las Vegas in America. The reason for the exotic location is due to the fact that the city will be hosting the next leg of the World Series of Darts with some of the best players in the World including Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson and Peter Wright compete against America’s best.

Before that the draw for the Matchplay in Blackpool will take place. Often spoken about as the second biggest event in World Darts to the World Championship another magical nine days are expected to take place by the seaside at the majestic Winter Gardens.

Among the field is Phil “the Power” Taylor who will appear in his final World Matchplay and will be wanting to win his 16th title in Blackpool which would match his record of World Championship wins. But the heavy favourite for the title is the World number 1 and reigning World Champion Michael van Gerwen who is looking for his third straight Matchplay crown with other runners including twice World Champion Gary Anderson, UK Open winner Peter Wright and an inform Dave “chizzy” Chisnall.

Among the bottom half of the seeds a clash between Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld is on the cards as the pair with 21 World titles between them are seeded 8th and 9th for the tournament. Michael Smith comes into the tournament with good form after his triumph in the Gibraltar European tour event. Kim Huybrechts is always a dangerous opponent, James Wade has a good Matchplay record an in-form Simon Whitlock ranked 16th could be MVG’s opponent in Round 2.

The unseeded players are as strong as the seeds this year. With World Series representative Gerwyn Price among the seeds this year, he will fancy himself as a dark horse for the title. But the real dark horse for the title is Rob Cross, who has made his name since joining the pro-tour this year, who he plays is what people are most intrigued about.

The draw takes place a 7pm UK time in Las Vegas.

The Hawks stars of the future will kick off their FA Youth Cup campaign with a home encounter against Salisbury at Westleigh Park.

the game will take place on the week commencing September 3 with a 19:00 kick off. The Hawks lost in the final qualifying round last season 3-0 to Eastleigh losing out on a lucrative first round tie against Portsmouth at Fratton Park.

ticket details and the exact date of the encounter will be announced by the club in due course.

Henry Deacon

Every year huge crowds flock to Westleigh Park to see early glimpses of Portsmouth’s biggest two sides but this year their will be a carnival on top of the party at Havant and Waterlooville’s spiritual home.

With both sides winning their respective leagues last season both teams are on a crest of a wave. With Havant and Waterlooville winning the Ryman League on the final day of the season at Kingstonian and Pompey pulling of the shock of the season by winning League 2 despite being to of the league for just 33 minutes.

The success on the pitch ordinarily means a larger crowd would consider the trip, however on top of that there is a buzz on social media sites which could see the fixture gain a 3,000 plus crowd. The game I being promoted on social media sites such as Pompey News Now with such promotional reaching nearly 3,500 people in one day alone. The effort of that website twinned with Bognor and Havant’s twitter saw 3,445 people flock to Westleigh Park to see the Ryman League title clash between the sides on Easter Monday.

For Havant and Waterlooville this game is crucial as it is a huge money spinner. A crowd of over 2,600 were in attendance for the fixture last season with the money made from that game being crucial towards the clubs finance in the season that followed. And should the attendance here be similar to that against Bognor, the gate could be crucial in giving the club some added sums for the season ahead in the National League South.

Whilst talking about the crowd it fails to put into the melting pot the ex Pompey stars that will fair against their former sides. Manager Lee Bradbury a pompey legend, leads his Hawks side into his fifth fixture against his former team, with Bradley Tarbuck still at the tender age of 21 looking to prove a point against his former employers. Wes Fogden who enjoyed 18 months at Fratton Park before he moved to Yeovil in 2015 and Matt Tubbs who just two and a half years ago was a star signing for the blues.

A fascinating fixture at Fratton Park it is sure to be with a large crowd expected, make sure that you get down to Westleigh Park for one of the highlights of the season.

HAVANT and Waterlooville’s game against Newport Isle of Wight has been given final confirmation following a confusion by local media feeds. This page reported on Friday night following a tweet by Newport that the game was to be played on July 11th with that being backed up by popular and reliable Pompey News Now.

Havant and Waterlooville Football Club have however told us this evening that the game against the Islanders has been changed to July 4th with a 19:45 kick-off. Since the changing of the original July 8th date at St. Georges Park both sides have been seeking to find dates in their diaries to help fulfil the fixture. With fixtures against Pompey for both sides to organise this has had some difficulty with the July 4 date being the one which has been settled with.

For Hawks players such as Ryan Young and Ryan Woodford who are Islanders themselves it is a chance for them to show their first bit of pre-season form in front of their adoring public.

If you cannot make the match we will have LIVE coverage on Hawks Radio from 7:35 on July 4.

Henry Deacon

HAVANT and Waterlooville manager Lee Bradbury has won the Isthmian League manager of the year at their annual AGM at Wembley. The Hawks gaffer was voted for this award by his fellow peers after guiding the Hawks to what is now known as the Bostik league title following a tense final day at Kingstonian pipping Bognor Regis Town to the title after beating them 5 days prior.

The Hawks won 28 games last term with just 8 defeats notching an impressive 94 points to get over the line. That making up for the heartbreaking relegation 12 months prior on the final day against Weston-Super-Mare. This seasons record though would be considered unsurprising considering the fact that Bradbury and Shaun Gale work immensely behind the scenes of the club with anything they don’t look at not worth being looked at.

With Bradbury captaining the ship with a new 2 year contract aboard he has already shown that he wants to challenge in their first season back in the Vanarama National League South. Having kept the nucleus of the title winning squad backed up with the recent signing of former AFC Wimbledon and Portsmouth front man Matt Tubbs a statement has been made by the boss and club for next season.

We would all like to congratulate Lee Bradbury on his latest honour and look forward to more success in the coming season.

Henry Deacon