5* Haven

The home side got off to the perfect start, taking the lead in the very first minute after clever work down the right from Tom Lawley and Tom Burton resulted in Charlie Walker slotting home. Walton seemed disorganised early in the game and both Lloyd Cotton and Lawley had further chances to increase the lead before the ten-minute mark but Mo Maan in the Walton goal kept them at bay. A wide open game developed and the chances kept on coming as Walker again was upended in the box, but his appeals for a penalty were turned down, whilst Connor French and Malachi Hudson were causing some threat for Walton but found Ash Jones and Craig Richards at the heart of the Peacehaven defence, in resolute form. The end to end football continued with Jamie Brotherton – whose recent performances have been outstanding – causing Casuals right-back Sam Labinjo constant problems, whilst the visitors were unable to get any good enough service to their front men to trouble Anthony Di Bernardo’s goal.

Then in the twenty-third minute, Scott Day’s shot for the visitors was charged down and a quick pass from defence had Lawley breaking free over the half-way line. He then showed exquisite close control to take on two defenders before curling a beautiful shot into the net for 2-0. The visitors were now clearly up against it and tried to get wide men Hudson and Malik Ouani involved more in the game, with the latter’s sweetly struck drive from the edge of the box blocked by the home defence. Haven were having one of those games at the back and you just felt they would not be beaten on this day – and so it would prove, with Richards and Steve Metcalf blocking everything and Jones giving an outstanding captain’s performance.

Then on thirty-three minutes came perhaps the goal of the match – the ball bouncing free to Cotton, who’s powerful volley from twenty-five yards dipped over Maan and into the net. Walton’s frustration showed a few minutes later when left-back Miles Mitchell’s cynical foul on Walker was rightly punished with the first yellow card of the game, just before Walton enjoyed their only decent spell of the first-half in its last five minutes – French going at the home defence with purpose and Labinjo frequently venturing up the right-wing, but once again Peacehaven’s defence repelled everything that was thrown at them.
Into the second half and there was an early scare for the home side as Di Bernardo found himself in no man’s land and Hudson’s clever lob was headed off the line by Jon Marzetti. But soon after, Brotherton was put clean through for Haven and he coolly took it round Maan to slot home for 4-0 and effectively put the game to bed. The match seemed to be following the same wide open pattern as the first half and after Hudson’s shot was blocked for the visitors and French drove over, Haven’s top scorer Walker grabbed himself a brace with a deft finish past the helpless Maan, left once again without much help from the men in front of him.

The rest of the match then played itself out. There were no more goals but tempers were flaring now as Walton allowed their frustration to show with some nasty challenges, but their play also improved in the final half-hour and all credit to them for not allowing their heads to drop, French in particular seemed willing to take the fight to the home side almost single-handedly. I’m sure he’ll be glad he doesn’t come up against Ash Jones every week, a constant thorn in his side, and along with the rest of the hard-working home side denied Casuals even so much as a consolation strike.
So 5-0 it ended and Peacehaven made it 22 points from the last 24 available, deserving of their place at the summit. Now to stay there!

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Match report by Richard McQuillan Goals on YouTube here http://youtu.be/p-PSrjeHpuY