Sub-edited by Alex Gendler Smith
Hello everyone and welcome to last Tuesday night’s coverage of the Isthmian League South East Division’s A23 Derby between local rivals Whitehawk FC and Burgess Hill Town! Whitehawk were looking to build upon a recent run of form seeing them win their last two games in a row in all competitions, whilst being sat in 16th place with seven points. Burgess Hill Town were looking to follow up last weekends 4-2 win against Ramsgate, which gave them their first three points of the season, and climb up the table having been sat in 19th with four points. The Hillians also haven’t beaten Whitehawk since July 2017, when they won 2-1 at the More Than Tyres Stadium in a pre-season friendly.
My name is Freddie Humphry-Wakefield, and I’ll be taking you through last Tuesday’s stalemate draw at The Enclosed Ground. Feel free to leave any comments below, as I’d love to hear your opinions, and how you think both sides will fare for the rest of the season.
Here’s a look at the lineups for both sides:
FIRST HALF:
MIN 1 – The whistle blows, Whitehawk kick off, and we’re underway at The Enclosed Ground!
MIN 5 – First minor chance of the game here for Whitehawk as Henry Muggeridge sees his effort sail over the crossbar following a long ball from Mo Kamara.
MIN 7 – Close from Burgess Hill! Lewis Finney hits a half-volley just wide from inside the penalty area.
MIN 17 – Whitehawk look to get forward, and Lewis Taylor brings down Muggeridge just on the edge of the right hand side of the 18-yard box. Free kick in a promising position for the Hawks.
MIN 22 – On a completely unrelated note to the action, a Whitehawk fan has complimented the blue top of the Burgess Hill goalkeeper Taylor Seymour. Probably the most entertaining moment of this first half!
MIN 23 – WHAT A SAVE! Whitehawk’s goalkeeper, with an equally nice top, with a vital save just seconds after! Max Miller crosses the ball in and finds Connor Tighe, but the man who left Whitehawk for The Hillians this summer is denied by incredible reflexes from Nathan Stroomberg-Clarke! Easily the best chance of the game so far.
MIN 26 – OFF THE CROSSBAR FOR THE HILLIANS! Yet again Tighe is involved, as he plays a one-two with Finney from a corner, then curls the ball into the box and it cannons off the upright! Burgess Hill really growing into the game now.
MIN 35 – UNBELIEVABLE SAVE!! HOW ON EARTH HAS HE KEPT THAT OUT?! Miller crosses the ball into the box, and Finney is superbly denied from five yards out by Stroomberg-Clarke! It’s honestly a mystery as to how Burgess Hill haven’t taken the lead.
MIN 36 – Now it’s Seymour’s turn to make the saves! End-to-end stuff here, as Javaun Splatt gets past his man and sees himself one-on-one, but the striker with seven goals in seven games this season is declined by the feet of Seymour.
MIN 41 – ANOTHER HEROIC SAVE! Seymour at full stretch there to deny Muggeridge from outside the box as he looks to fire his right footed shot into the top right corner!
HALF-TIME – Whitehawk FC 0-0 Burgess Hill Town
Can’t really disagree with Whitehawk’s assessment there, the last 20 minutes of that half really lightened up and saw both sides have some good chances. Both goalkeepers also pulling off some vital saves to keep their sides in this game. Hopefully the second half can live up to the chaos of the first and we’ll see either side break the deadlock!
The Whitehawk Ultras take their place in the terrace with a disco ball hanging from the roof. Could we be seeing a literal disco party in this second half? The teams are just minutes away from walking back out onto the pitch!
SECOND HALF:
MIN 46 – Burgess Hill get us back underway at The Enclosed Ground!
MIN 50 – First chance of the second half, as Whitehawk’s winger Stephen Okoh breezes past his man, but his shot has ended up in the caravan park down the road. Hopefully he won’t be paying for a window replacement.
MIN 64 – Another good chance for Whitehawk! Lambert wins the ball in midfield, runs down the wing, gets the cross in which just skims past the toe of Muggeridge, but falls to the feet of Okoh on the other flank, and his effort is well held by Seymour.
MIN 66 – Whitehawk have by far been the better side this half. Splatt crosses the ball into the box, it finds Muggeridge, but his shot is blocked by Josh Spinks.
MIN 75 – Stroomberg-Clarke provides even more goalkeeping heroics! He tips the shot from long range by Tighe over the bar. He then punches away the resulting corner, and the follow up effort goes wide.
MIN 83 – Stroomberg-Clarke again tips a shot over the bar, this time from Reggie Ward.
MIN 88 – WHAT A CHANCE! Kamara will be gutted he hasn’t won the game for Whitehawk there! He finds himself on the penalty spot unmarked from a corner, but his effort is well off target.
FULL-TIME – Whitehawk FC 0-0 Burgess Hill Town
And there we have it! A stalemate in the A23 Derby! Both sides looked quite wasteful in attack this evening, but whenever they got themselves a good chance to break the deadlock, both Seymour and Stroomberg-Clarke provided goalkeeping excellence to get their sides the clean sheet.
Whitehawk after this fixture now sit 14th in the table, with eight points from eight games, and also unbeaten in their last three games in all competitions. They’ll look to use their momentum and positive run of results to get all three points away to 16th place Faversham Town on Saturday.
Burgess Hill moved up to 18th, with five points after eight games, also unbeaten in their last three matches. They now move onto a six-pointer on Saturday, as they host 17th place Sevenoaks Town at home, who they have already beaten this season in the FA Trophy on penalties.
