Alton 6,Haslemere II 0

IN-FORM Alton made it six wins in a row in Hampshire 2 on Saturday when, for the second time this season, they blanked Haslemere as they swept them aside 6-0 in their last home game of the campaign.

Alton knew a good performance was needed to ensure their fine recent form continued, and with Haslemere sitting in fourth and Alton in fifth with only three points separating the two sides, it was certainly all to play for.

The home side began with the bulk of the possession and made it hard for Haslemere to get any time on the ball as they moved it around the back smoothly, looking for openings to exploit.

And it took Alton barely more than five minutes to score their first goal of the game as their steady pressure paid off. Liam Cave broke into the circle and shot goalward. His shot was blocked by the Haslemere goalkeeper but he had the presence of mind to pick up the rebound and square the ball to Luke Bottomley, who made no mistake.

Haslemere were looking shaky to say the least as from the restart several misplaced passes from the visitors allowed Alton to regain possession easily and drive forward. Soon enough this pressure saw Alton pick up their second goal after forward Josh Davidson, on his first-team debut, broke through the middle of the Haslemere defence and fired off a shot that was tapped over the line by Sam Steel to double Alton’s lead.

There were some warning signs for Alton, with several breaks catching the home side off guard and they found themselves defending several penalty corners, but Haslemere’s efforts were easily dealt with by the defence, much to the visitors’ frustration.

And Alton made Haslemere pay with two more quick goals. Steel picked up his second of the game from a tight angle, beating the goalkeeper on his near post, before Davidson punished the visitors’ defence by intercepting a pass round the back and making no mistake as he calmly slid the ball under the oncoming Haslemere keeper.

With only a few minutes left in the half Alton made it 5-0 when Steel sealed his hat-trick after Haslemere failed to clear their lines.

Alton were confident but determined not to let their guard down at the start of the second half, and possession seemed to be the key as the Alton defensive back line of Scott Reading, Dan Trim, Andy Cooper and Tom Pate kept the ball moving quickly to make it hard for Haslemere to find a way into the game.

At the other end, Alton were finding it much harder to find attacking channels as the visitors seemed to have learned from their mistakes of the first half, putting everything they had behind the ball.

That said, Alton were still the dominant side and with less than ten minutes to go Alton made it 6-0 with Davidson picking up his second after being fed a pass from Steel, allowing the young striker to cap off another great win for Alton and put them up to fourth place in the league.

With only two weeks of the season remaining, Alton hope to keep their good run going. On Saturday, they will be on the road to face top-of-the-table Fareham who have lost only two games all year.

* Jittery Alton Ladies seconds took a while to settle against IBM last Saturday, allowing the visitors to put some pressure on the defence – but they eventually ran out 1-0 winners in Hampshire 5.

Alton then began to play their usual classy hockey, linking the midfield and wings with some fast touch-and-release moves. And their efforts paid off when a ball from Natalie Milner deep in the midfield found Whitney Chobbah in the circle and she converted the chance.

In spite of prolonged periods in the IBM circle in the second half, and plenty of lovely crosses, Alton lacked the killer touch to add to their tally.

The joint man-of-the-match award went to Lilly Tomlinson and Vanessa Kellie, whose persistence and work rate kept the opposition on the back foot.

* Goals from Abi G, Hannah D and Iona I earned Alton Girls a come-from-behind 3-2 win against Winchester in Hampshire U16 Division One at the University Stadium on Saturday.

Abi picked up a rebound for a penalty corner to level the scores after Winchester had opened the scoring against the run of play before Hannah equalised for a second time after a crucial deflection. And the stage was set for Iona to be the match winner from Hannah’s late cross.