Havant hit back for dramatic Cardiff draw

In a thrilling match the home side went 4-1 down before they charged back.

Cardiff opened the scoring with a powerful reverse shot by Jack Pritchard in the 13th Minute, after he had cut into the circle after a powerful run in from the left.

A minute later James Fortman, in the Cardiff Met goal, denied Mike Deller- Mericks with the aid of his helmet.

Havant started to dominate and certainly had territorial advantage. Despite this advantage they were unable to break down the Cardiff Met defence and were perhaps guilty of attacking with a lack of width, making defending that much easier for the visitors.

Havant did however make the pressure count in the 27th minute when Matt Cox moved the ball through the defence to Adam Bloomfield in the circle. Bloomfield’s shot was deflected into the goal on the far post by Matt Boote was came sliding into level the scores.

Havant conceded three goals in the first 10 minutes of the half.

Cardiff Met’s second goal was scored in the 40th minute when Ieuan Davies converted with a shot from the righthand side of the circle.

Three minutes later the visitors had scored their third goal from their second penalty corner of the game.

Worse was to come due to poor reaction to turnover and slack marking which allowed Rhys Bradshaw to score Cardiff Met’s fourth goal in the 46th minute.

Havant’s recovery started in the 51st minute after Jonathan Pickett fed Boote who found Bloomfield.

He crossed the ball in front of the keeper for man-of-the-match Ethan Hoddle to convert.

Keeper Chris Bristow made a smart save to deny Cardiff a fifth goal.

In the 57th minute Bloomfield struck with a neat finish from near the goal to reduce the deficit to 4-3.

Then the visitors went down to 10 men in the 60th minute and with the numerical advantage Havant pushed forward.

But Havant were down to 10 men themselves four minutes later after a robust tackle gave Cardiff Met their third penalty corner of the game.

Then a fine double save by Bristow denied the visitors the opportunity to extend their advantage.

In the 69th minute Ethan Hoddle lifted the ball which hit a defender on its way into the goal.

A penalty stroke was awarded but this was reversed by the disengaged umpire to great surprise.

The stroke was converted to Havant’s first penalty corner of the game and from this Jonathan Pickett shot from the top of the circle which deflected of a defender’s stick into the top corner to make it 4-4.

report by Chris Pickett