ISLAND STILL CAN`T BREAK ALTON JINX

Friday, February 8, 2008

Determined but eventually defeated, the Island side included Stephen Woodford. Picture by Jennifer Burton.

Sport/Hockey
IW 1 3, Alton 6
TOP met bottom on Saturday as the IW's injury-hit side took on a second-place Alton side searching for promotion.
This has become a bogey fixture for the Island, who followed Alton into Hampshire's top league and have not managed to secure a victory in the last five meetings.
True to form, the home side struggled early on and went behind as right back Tim Gordon's attempted clearance deflected into the Island goal via the keeper's helmet.
Some attractive hockey from the visitors saw them go two up minutes later but some neat stick skills from Horwell in the Alton D drew a foul and the resulting penalty corner was expertly deflected into the goal by skipper Steve Johnston.
The visitors hit back with a scrambled short corner of their own but, as half time approached, a text-book short corner was put away by the Island when Felix Stubbings latched on to a powerful Horwell drive.
With the away side rattled, the Island continued to press at the start of the second half and as the umpires took control, two Alton players were sent to the sin bin.
The home team thought they had capitlalised on the two-man advantage when Johnston again powered home another wayward Horwell effort, only for the goal to be struck off, to the despair of the home side.
The Island then saw centre back Martyn Simmonds conceed a penalty stroke for a rash tackle, which also saw him sent from the field of play. The converted penalty killed off any hope the Island had of a comeback and with only ten men on the field, were punished for chasing the game and conceeded twice more.
There was a late consolation for the Island as Horwell was repeatedly fouled, the umpire had no choice but to award a penalty stroke, which he scored.

Bournemouth 2, IW II 0
THE IW were knocked off top spot in the Hampshire Open League by Bournemouth as this top-of-the-table clash went the way of the home side.
Forced to field an under-strength side, due to injury and player unavailability, the IW never got going and were a shadow of the team that prior to this game had lost just once all season.
Bournemouth took the lead when a forward did well to control the ball and score on the turn and made it 2-0 before the interval.

Vectis Ladies 1, Petersfield Ladies 1
VECTIS were looking for revenge on Saturday, after Petersfield defeated them earlier in the season.
The Islanders scored first, with the attacking partnership of Burford and Morton making chances in the semi-circle, of which the latter took advantage. Petersfield did not give up and, although they troubled the defence, they could not get past the formidable Caddick.
The midfield worked hard and with Scott, Shirley and player of the match Williams continuously breaking down the Petersfield play, the second half proved equal.
Towards the end of the second half, Petersfield levelled.
Tomorrow (Saturday), Vectis travel to Havant, hoping to maintain their third place in the table.
Vectis Ladies: Barton, Burdett, Burford, Caddick, G. Dye, Frazer, Morton, Richardson, Roovis, Scott, Shirley, Williams.

ISLAND STILL CAN`T BREAK ALTON JINX

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