‘It was like a basketball game’ – Hayling boss Bishop reflects on ‘crazy, crazy’ Hampshire Premier League goal-fest at Sway

In a Hampshire Premier League Senior Division goal-fest in the New Forest, the Humbugs found themselves 3-0 down inside 10 minutes, trailed 5-2 at half-time and were eventually beaten 8-5.

‘It was a basketball game, it wasn’t a football game,’ said Bishop, whose side had only conceded once in their previous four games. ‘It was just really strange.

‘The daft thing is, we played alright. They were just very good going forward.

‘If Sway had had that forward line all season, they should be top of the league. There were players far too good for this division.’

Hayling were unfortunate to find themselves up against Clayd Roach, who with 16 goals in 10 games for Folland Sports is the top scorer in Division 1 of the Wessex League.

Not required by Folland for their league game against Petersfield, Roach made his first Sway appearance of 2021/22 - and scored twice.

Archie Greenough and John Jay Mooney grabbed first half braces, while Tapiwa Gonyora made it 8-2 on 70 minutes.

Hayling finished the stronger after Gonyora had been dismissed, with their goals coming from Callum Theobald (2), George Gregory, Jack Bishop and 17-year-old Cam Tomkins.

‘It was like a Sunday League game, it was horrendous,’ added Dan Bishop, whose side lost 7-0 at Denmead and 5-0 at Moneyfields back in August.

‘We were missing a couple of key players but it shouldn’t have had the impact it did.

‘Our warm-up was rubbish - some of the players were late arriving (due to the M27 being closed); that’s not an excuse but it did have an impact. It took us an hour to get going.’

Three centre halves - Dan Clasby, Toby Wilson and Jack Williams - should return to the squad for next weekend’s Hampshire Trophy trip to Fleet Spurs A.

The following week, October 9, the Humbugs made a quick return to Sway in the third round of the HPL Cup.