130 visited the Denplan Ground to watch a disappointing Winchester City U18s crash out of the FA Youth Cup at the hands of Eastleigh.
Winchester held their own in a close fought first half with Adam working hard in the centre of midfield to try to spark the game into life. Occassional flashes of skill from Jamie raised expectations but in truth the Eastleigh defenders were very rarely troubled and their job was made all the easier by the Winchester forwards continually straying offside.
Although Winchester were working hard Eastleigh were able to spray the ball around with relative ease but despite this they too were having very little impact upfront and rarely troubled Chris in Goal. A crunching last ditch tackle by Karl after 25 minutes looked to have put him out of the game but a few minutes off the pitch with the physio and he was back at the heart of the defence sweeping up any danger.
The closest Winchester came to a goal was a rebound from a totally committed tackle by Jimmy that looped over the goal keeper but bounced just wide of an empty net. Eastleigh came close with a long range effort that Chris tipped over the bar but other than this the highlight of the first half was the Easteigh number 3 who couldn't master the art of the throw in! (At least a dozen times!!)
For all the struggle of the first half, the second half was a dire affair. Winchester went behind to a very soft goal when Chris and Karl failed to communicate and the Eastleigh attacker slid in to score and soon after Winchester lost their shape and sat deeper and deeper with Jimmy almost permanently at right back and Oli and Liam joining Karl and Connor in central defence! Initially Adam ran harder and further to compensate but as he ran out of steam Winchester resorted more and more to the hit and hope long ball which was easily dealt with by the Eastleigh defenders.
Even with everyone behind the ball Winchester were undone again when they failed to clear an Eastleigh corner and a simple header made it 0 - 2. With nothing to loose Liam made way for Gareth (60) and Jamie made way for Royce (65) but instead of going to a 4-3-3 formation Peter was moved to the left and everything stayed the same.
Finally Adam's legs gave out and he was replaced by Ben (80) and almost for the first time in the game (certainly the first time in the second half) Winchester started to play football on the ground. A lovely through ball from Ben found Mike is space but his attempted lob went straight to the keeper. Soon after a great tackle by Danny allowed him to release Gareth and his pass found Royce running through but his shot went wide when he could have rolled the ball square to Peter for an easy tap in.
City: Chris Brewer, Oli Vines, Danny King, Laim Richardson (Gareth Snelling 60), Connor McCarthy, Karl Littleboy, Jimmy Weekes, Adam Saunders (Ben Rowlett 80), Mike Glanville, Peter Walker, Jamie Craven (Royce Reed 65). Unused subs - Tyler Wyeth, Zaccarius,
