As a part time supporter it's been a while since I saw Poole at home - to be fair it's been a while since ANYONE has seen them at home
The pitch was still a swimming pool at the Tatnam and so Wimborne were gracious enough to lend us their ground for the night - so for me it was almost my first away match
I have to say I was very impressed with both the bar and its stock - I hope the next time I'm actually at the Tatnam I'll be able to say the same
The ground was also very impressive although I wouldn't like to have to make too many cross field runs as I was never much of a fan of hill running - but I'm being churlish ......
The game started with Poole determined to look like the "home" team with Davies on the right and Devlin on the left causing both fullbacks problems
The game's first chance fell to Chiedozie as he was put through on 4 minutes
The world's smallest keeper gasped in frustration as he was never going to finish the sandcastle he'd started in the goal mouth but still bravely came out and tipped Chiedozie's fierce shot around the post
The fact that the ref didn't give the obvious corner didn't endear him to the RWA, shall we say
The pressure on Hungerford was relentless and perhaps we got a glimpse of what was to come on 10 minutes as a Devlin free kick fell to the in form Spetch and twice his shots from close range were blocked by desperate defenders throwing themselves in front of the ball
It was going to take something special to beat this well drilled side and even my helpful hints of "just aim high" didn't seem to help
Before the game the referee was seen polishing off 2 double cheeseburgers and they came home to roost on 23 minutes as he was forced to stop the game for 6 minutes for a "comfort" break
Sure he said it was to replace a contact lens but that doesn't explain the Benny Hill run off the pitch - I kept looking for the bald man he was going to slap .....
The last 10 minutes turned into the Bennett show
First he turned brilliantly at the edge of the box to make himself a yard of space but his shot just went over the bar - maybe they had heard me after all....
Then he was put through after great run and only a fantastic last ditch tackle stopped him pulling the trigger.
Finally, from the resulting corner Spetch rose the highest and he saw his header cleared off the line and the ball fell to Bennett - quick as a flash he smashed the ball into the gaping net on the left only to see the ball thump against the post
Close but no cigar - Half Time : 0-0
Poole started on the attack again and their job seemingly got easier on 50 minutes as their rotund number 5 finally got fed up of getting no ball by scything down Davies
Maybe it was frustration, or maybe it was the beard - beards anger some people I've found...
Anyway it was a straight red - surely this was the edge we needed?
What I'd like to say now was that Poole started passing Hungerford off the pitch to tire them out before applying the final killer blow - I'd like to, but I can't
What actually happened was Poole slowed the game down, had loads of possession but none of which was in the final third.
Hungerford were well drilled and organised and sat back en masse and the speed at which Poole played meant that no gaps were found - in fact for some of the game, despite it looking like a training match of defence against attack, you'd be hard pushed to notice they were a man down
It took until the 68th minute for Poole to muster a shot as Spetch's free kick nearly took my head off and 7 minutes later his header again just went wide
The keeper just wasn't getting tested - the only way he was getting his kit dirty was if he dropped his post match hot chocolate down him
Devlin then had a shot that was visibly repelled by the obvious spell the keeper had put on the goal and then the unthinkable almost happened
With just 7 minutes to go their 11 was suddenly through and Buchel pulled off a lovely low save to rescue the "home" side
The last 5 minutes and the extraordinary extra 6 minutes of injury time (where did he get that from) were spent hoisting a lot of high balls into the box, just hoping for the ball to fall our way
It didn't and the game ended a disappointing 0-0
Summary : Lots of possession, quite a lot of chances, very very few shots on target - that was the defining factor.
Hungerford, despite playing with 10 men for 40 minutes were organised and tireless and Poole just didn't have the guile to break them down, or the luck in front of goal - although if you can't hit the target, luck doesn't really count for much
Star Man: Spetch - these run outs with higher league teams have clearly rubbed off and he popped up all over the pitch
