FOOTBALL: United League Season Tails Off
WINGATE & FINCHLEY 2, HASTINGS UTD 2
HASTINGS UTD 0, WHITEHAWK 1
HASTINGS UTD 0, ENFIELD TOWN 3
HUGH SULLIVAN
Hastings United will remain in the Isthmian League for another season. Their target of a top-five place so as to qualify for promotion play-offs is no longer attainable following a disappointing fortnight in which they lost twice at home without scoring a goal.
Sam Cruttwell in action for Hastings
But the pivotal moment had come in the ‘U’s’ game in North London the previous Tuesday, 9 April. Hosts Wingate & Finchley, lying fourth in the table, took a two-goal lead in the first half, but were pegged back to 2-2 by goals from Tommy Fagg and Davide Rodari; United continued to dominate play and create chances in pursuit of all three points. Then, in the 74th minute, Freddie Legg was given a straight red card for violent conduct. Momentum was lost, and the game finished without further goals. Meanwhile, just a few miles up the road at Potters Bar, rival play-off contenders Horsham were winning 1-0 (their goal scored by former Hastings favourite Daniel Ajakaiye) to widen their points advantage irrevocably.
The following Saturday, Whitehawk came to Hastings. The home team squandered a number of chances and went down 1-0. A week later a weakened side, missing Sam Cruttwell and casting Rodari and Jack Dixon among the substitutes, conceded three second half goals to end well beaten.
The outcomes of United’s last two games, involving long trips to Potters Bar on Tuesday (23 April) and to Canvey Island tomorrow (Saturday), are now academic in terms of significant league placings. They do, however, finish the season with the chance to win a trophy, the Sussex Senior Cup. The final will be played on Brighton & Hove Albion’s Premier League pitch at the Amex stadium on Wednesday 8 May. Horsham are their opponents in waiting, potentially distracted by their continued play-off ambitions. Hastings will wish they had retained the same dual focus.
SATISFACTION
Despite their recent disappointments, and whether or not they capture cup glory next month, the ‘U’s’ management and supporters should look back at the season with overall satisfaction.
Starting out with new owners, a new manager and a whole set of new players, the outlook last August appeared anything but rosy. Pessimism seemed confirmed when, despite a promising start, the side suffered a run of seven straight defeats in league and major cup fixtures through September and October. When talisman striker Femi Akinwande left the club, swiftly followed by manager Paul Barnes, prospects looked dark indeed.
So huge credit is due to Dean White and his United board for reaching back to former manager Chris Agutter, and to Agutter himself for the speed with which he was able on reappointment to hit the ground running and immediately improve the team’s competitiveness. More particularly, he has shown the value of finding, or retrieving, the right players for the job in hand.
At the start of the season, former youth players at Hastings, Rodari and Adam Lovatt, who had moved on to respective EFL clubs Crawley Town and Sutton United, were welcomed back. Agutter then lured back Jack Dixon from Whitehawk and, most productively, Sam Cruttwell from the outer fringes of local football. Even former captain and Pilot Field favourite Sam Adams re-joined the squad in the closing stages of the season. Sam Gale, an outstanding youth prospect at Gillingham, came on extended loan. His partnership with Cruttwell in central defence proved a major factor in raising Hastings’ promotion hopes and sustaining them for so long.
The negatives? Home form was relatively erratic, with only nine victories in 21 league matches, the worst record of all the teams in the top half of the table. That has been especially disappointing fare for the Pilot Field crowds, who regularly topped 1,000 and on occasion (as last Saturday for the match against Enfield) mustered over 2,000, but haven’t always appreciated the slow-build, methodical football, which Agutter favours. The statistics suggest that a more attacking style, committing more players forward, might have reaped higher dividends in home matches.
There has also been an issue of discipline. Dixon, Fagg and Legg have all been red-carded in recent weeks, resulting not only in immediate depletion of numbers on the field but further disruptive suspensions in subsequent games.
Still, onwards and upwards. United supporters will no doubt travel in numbers to the Sussex cup final at Falmer on 8 May. They will then wait with anticipation, as in summers gone by, to hear which players will be retained – and which will not – for next season.
We hope you have enjoyed reading this article. The future of our volunteer led, non-profit publication would be far more secure with the aid of a small donation. You can also support local journalism by becoming a friend of HIP. It only takes a minute and we would be very grateful.
Leave a Reply