Sholing 2-0 Hamworthy United
Scorers : Lee Wort 58, Dan Mason 61
Date: Monday 1 May 2023, 3pm – Southern League Division 1 South Play Off Final
Venue: Imperial Homes Stadium Attendance: 1,289 (club record)
Sholing : Ryan Gosney, TJ Cuthbertson, Marv McLean, Charlie Wagstaffe, Rob Flooks (Owen Roundell 81), Rob Nicholls, Brad Targett (Sami Makhloufi 87), Byron Mason ©, Dan Mason, Lee Wort, Jake Cope (Wayne Robinson 84). Unused subs : Jordan Rose, Theo Widger
Bookings : Charlie Wagstaffe, Lee Wort
Hamworthy United : Tommy Scott, Anthony Rolls, Chris Clarke (Rafa Ramos 73), Max Wilcock (Remus Nixon 81), Harvey Wright, Billy Walker, Ed Hodge (Stephen Devlin 69), Sean Wright, Will Fletcher, Cameron Munn, Sam Griffin ©. Unused subs : Alfie Matthews, Rhys Taylor
Bookings : Sean Wright, Cameron Munn
Referee : Ashley Clarke Assistants : Daniel Clenton, Stephen Williams 4th Official : Richard Walker
Clarke Willmott Man of the Match : Dan Mason
Sholing made history by gaining promotion to the Southern League Premier, a deserved reward for a fantastic season. Was history also off the pitch, a club record crowd of almost 1,300 produced a great atmosphere and witnessed the deadly duo of Lee Wort & Dan Mason score second half goals to start the promotion party!
Team News : Dan Miller missed out with a foot injury and it was touch and go whether Byron would be involved. He could barely bend his right knee during Saturday's training session, but put the pain aside and led the team out. Ryan Gosney returned in goal and with Byron going into a four man defence, Jake Cope came into midfield.
Kick off was delayed by 10 minutes to allow the massive crowd to take their place. Was quite a sight, having every space filled around the pitch, 2 or 3 deep in places, with the ultra stand heaving. Hamworthy brought a fair few fans along, plus there were many ex-Sholing players also in attendance.
It was an edgy start to the game, but Sholing were posing the greater goalscoring threat. Dan Mason back-headed a long throw towards the far post, but no one had gambled. D-Dan then linked up with Lee Wort, who fired into the side netting.
Boatmen had the ball in the net on 23 minutes, Copey's freekick was met with a powerful header by Rob Flooks, but the linesman had his flag up for offside. The visitors started to look more dangerous going forward, but without testing Gosney.
Brad Targett worked space in the box for a shot, but a last ditch blocked denied him. Brad then demonstrated his ability to hang in the air for a powerful header across the face of goal, but just too far away from the arriving Wort. It was a similar case soon after, this time Targett ran and crossed from the right, but beyond Cope at the far stick. HT 0-0
Much like the Semi Final, Sholing came out for the restart and immediately turned it up a few notches. Dan Mason connected well with a fierce shot, but Scott made an impressive claim under his bar.
The breakthrough came on 58 minutes and was no surprise it was a link up between the front two who were born to score goals together. Dan Mason drove into the right side of the area and drilled a cross that LEE WORT volleyed in from 6 yards, his 27th goal of the season.
Three minutes later and we doubled the lead and it you had to pick a classic DAN MASON goal, then this had all the elements. Dan showed great chest control to bring the ball down, turn inside his marker and with space and time, he hammered a 20 yard shot into the far bottom corner to spark wild scenes! D-Dan's 26th of the season.
The 2 goal cushion allowed the Boatmen to play with more freedom and both wide men put on a show. Jake Cope burst down the left, cut inside and his effort went just wide. Then Brad Targett went on a mazy run from the right flank, beating 3 players before teeing up D-Dan, who had an effort blocked with the ball falling to Cope in space, but his scuffed effort was hacked clear.
Hamworthy certainly didn't let their heads drop, but they found it hard going against a resolute Sholing defence that snuffed out everything that approached our penalty area. It left Gosney with one of his more comfortable clean sheets of the season, barely getting his kit dirty.
The final 10 minutes saw Sholing run the clock down with 3 substitutions and keeping the ball mostly in the Hamworthy half. It ended up being a repeat of the league game v the Hammers, both in score and scorers. The final whistle was greeted with huge cheers and the celebrations begun! FT 2-0
A bit of context, we previously had heartbreak in 3 Southern League play offs and after leading the division for nearly all this season, no one can deny we didn't deserve Promotion. It's worth reminding that 25 years ago, we were a Hampshire League side and now, next season, we are one level beneath clubs like Yeovil & Scunthorpe, who were in the Championship 10 years ago! Mad!
The Southern League Premier looks to be a great league next season, with lots of local derbies against Totton, Winchester, Gosport, Salisbury, Poole and possibly, Basingstoke. Can't wait !
Commiserations to Hamworthy, who will be hurting, but they've had a great first season in the Southern League and we wish them well. Was a touch of class by the Hammers to remain on the pitch & applaud the presentation, not many clubs would do that.
Many thanks to all who made up the record crowd, hope you enjoyed it and will come back next season to support us again. Also, huge thanks to all the club volunteers who worked so hard all season, and especially to deal with two massive games in the space of a few days.
Dave Diaper : "The dust might have settled since Monday in our play off final against in form Hamworthy but what a day to look back on and a record crowd saw us clinch promotion to the Southern Premier by way of a 2-0 win with goals from Worty and Dan.
We can now look forward to possibly less travelling and playing more local teams like Gosport, Poole,Winchester, Salisbury and of course Totton.
League tables don’t lie and we were definitely the 2nd best team in the league so we can be proud of our runners up spot this season and start fresh in a new league.
Commiserations to Hamworthy who have had a outstanding first season in the Southern League and I’m sure they will be challenging for promotion next season.
A massive shout out to all our volunteers who worked tirelessly all day without you we wouldn’t be the Club we are. Thanks also to the supporters who really got behind us and were the 12th man.
We now look forward to that same support at St Mary’s when we take on our rivals and neighbours Totton in the Southampton Senior Cup Final on May 17th."
Too many great photos of the match & celebrations taken by EspieJaz to post here, but there are all available to view in albums on Facebook by clicking here