By Paul Cross
Blandford & Sturminster Men 6 – Southampton Uni 4s 1
After last week’s defeat, Blandford were back in action with a full compliment of players, including debutant Aaron Brookshaw. Having drawn the reverse fixture, the home side were keen to show what they could do.
Things couldn’t have started better for the home fans. Within two minutes, Blandford opened the scoring. Theo Browning won the ball on the left-hand side and played an early ball to Gaz Hardiman. He got the champagne moment in early, chucking a delicious ball into the D. It hung in the air for son Finn Hardiman to casually connect and open the scoring.
Two minutes later and Blandford scored again. The ball broke down the right before being sent inside for Hardiman to slot home his and Blandford’s second.
Remarkably, within another two minutes, Blandford got their third. The ball broke again on the right. This time it was Gaz Hardiman who slotted the ball home.
Southampton were pushing back and on 23rd minute, they broke the lines and surged into the D, their first effort was well saved by Clint Thrower, but the follow-up was pushed inside the posts to make the score 3-1.
Blandford hit back with some mazy dribbling from Finn Hardiman put him in striking distance. Southampton Uni prevented the shot putting it out. From the resulting short corner, captain Matty Lewis struck a sweet shot, which pinged off the keeper’s toe on its way to the back of the net.
Ten minutes into the second half and Blandford got their fifth. Having soaked up some early pressure, a slick one-two from Paul Cross released Finn Hardiman on the left. Hardiman ran the length of the pitch, slaloming past the Southampton defence, before sliding the ball inside the post from a tight angle.
With twenty minutes to go, another Hardiman goal as Gaz H got Blandford’s sixth as consistent pressure down the left-hand side of the 23’ led to a ball inside to Gaz, who made his reverse strike look simple.
With Havant’s loss and Portsmouth’s draw, this result puts Blandford’s fate back in their own hands with three games to go.
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