Sholing 2-0 Poole Town
Scorers : Dan Mason 13, Brad Targett 16
Date: Saturday 26 November, 3pm – Southern League Premier South
Venue: Imperial Homes Stadium Attendance: 320
Sholing : Ryan Gosney, Jake Flannigan (Mathias Tepe 80), Brad Targett, George Milner-Smith, Owen Roundell, Byron Mason ©, Charlie Davis, Karlos Gregory, Dan Mason, Charlie Wagstaffe (Jake Hesketh 68), Keane Anderson (Luka Chalwell 75). Unused subs : Lloyd Isgrove, Jake Cope
Yellow Card: Brad Targett, Owen Roundell, Charlie Davis, Charlie Wagstaffe
Poole Town : Max Evans, Luke Nippard, Jamie Whisken ©, Harvey Wright, Brendan Willson, Tony Lee, Tobias Jones, Harvey Slade, Cameron Murray, Billy Lowes, Wes Fogden. Subs : Harry Hutchinson, Kyran Samadi, Destiny Ojo, Declan Rose, Frankie Monk
Red Card: Brendan Wilson
Dansach Man of the Match: Byron Mason
Statistics: Possession - 51% / 49%. Shots on Target - 8 / 1. Shots off Target - 5 / 6.
Two goals in two first half minutes set Sholing on the way to a fully deserved win over Poole Town. Dan Mason's header & Brad Targett's shot grabbed the headlines, but it was a superb all round team performance.
Team News : Marv & Miller missed out, but there was the great sight of Jake Hesketh back in the squad. New faces Luka Chalwell & Mathias Tepe were on the bench, along with Lloyd Isgrove, being involved in his last game for the Boatmen before starting a new adventure playing in Australia. Good luck Izzy!
It was a lovely sunny start to the game in front of a good crowd on a superb looking pitch. Poole had the first opening when a player found space at the far post, but Charlie Wagstaffe quickly closed him down and blocked the ball behind for a corner.
On 11 minutes, Dan Mason smashed a shot that Max Evans did well to get a fingertip to as it flashed just over. Then in a space of a couple of minutes, the Boatmen found ourselves two goals to the good...
Charlie Davis floated a freekick into the Poole box where George Milner-Smith headed it back into the 6 yard box where it was met with a deft header by DAN MASON to guide the ball inside the far post for his 280th goal for the club.
Almost straight away the lead was doubled with a fantastic goal as BRAD TARGETT ran down the left channel, cut past a couple of Poole players and drilled a right foot shot low past the keeper and into the far bottom corner from 18 yards for his 7th of the season.
We had strong claims for a penalty as a Poole defender appeared to use his arm to block Karlos Gregory's goal bound effort, but the referee wasn't interested. A rare Poole attack ended with a Tony Lee shot towards the near post that was routine for Gosney. Charlie Davis had a freekick deflect just wide and Dan Mason put his header over from the corner.
A great low cross from the right by Jake Flannigan saw both Dan Mason & Brad Targett slide in to try to convert from close range, but somehow the ball evaded both of them. Byron had a header saved as the ref added on 6 minutes before blowing the half time whistle for a first 45 dominated by Sholing. HT 2-0
With the sun now set beyond beautiful Weston, the temperature dropped like a stone for the restart. Dan Mason was found in space on the left side of the box and he got off a powerful shot that forced Evans into a good save. Much like the chance in the first half, Boatmen were an inch away from scoring, this time it was D-Dan's low ball into the 6 yard box that saw Charlie Davis slide in, but not make contact.
Poole had a spell of possession, but it was more a case of Sholing letting them have the ball as we were defending strongly, not giving the Dolphins a sniff around Gosney's goal. There were a couple of efforts well off target and Gos made a couple of good claims from crosses, but we never looked like being breached, with George Milner-Smith, Owen Roundell and Byron keeping the prolific Tony Lee quiet.
It was Sholing who came closest to scoring. New signing, Luka Chalwell muscled past Wilson and was in on goal before the Poole player hauled him down and got a straight red for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity. From the freekick, Charlie Davis went oh so close to giving us another set-piece to remember when his effort smacked against the crossbar. Then Chalwell drilled a shot across the keeper and inside the far post, but the linesman's flag was up.
The official got 9 minutes of added time from somewhere, but the Boatmen got a thoroughly deserved win and clean sheet. Probably the hardest decision all match was who out of 5 or 6 candidates would get the Man of the Match award! FT 2-0
Dos : "An excellent performance and a different type of one. We have worked hard in the last 5 weeks to make ourselves a possession based team, but the Tiverton game taught us that we needed to mix it up more at home and that's what we did against Poole. I think 3 or 4 nil wouldn't have flattered us against very good opposition."
"Been a good learning week and thanks to everyone who came out yesterday, was a good energy in the crowd and we want to keep building on that at home."
"Owen Roundell, George Milner-Smith & Byron Mason were excellent against a top forward line. Dan Mason is back to his best after illness and Brad Targett was giving the Poole right back nightmares, as well as winning nearly everything in the air. Karlos, Keane & Wags controlled the midfield and I think Charlie Davis & Jake Flannigan were excellent. I think the only player I've not mentioned is Gos, mostly because we protected him so well. When you have a whole team that performs at 9 out of 10, you won't be beaten"
"Good to see Jake Hesketh return and I was pleased with how Luka & Mathias did when they came on. Luka & D-Dan could be a great partnership in the making"
"Onto Tuesday's Soton Senior Cup game v Hedge End Town and we will have to rest some of our more experienced players with tough games against Basingstoke & Walton and Hersham coming up, but it will still be a strong side I put out and we respect every opposition and want to go all the way in this competition"
Next Home Game : Sholing v Hedge End Town - Tuesday 28 Nov 7:45pm - Soton Senior Cup
Highlights courtesy of Charlie Clayton
Photos courtesy of EspieJaz, swipe to view pics :