Knight lauds Havant's work ethic after first win of season

Will Knight saluted Havant's work ethic as they celebrated their first London one south win of the season at London Cornish.
Jerome Trail scored against London Cornish. Picture: Neil MarshallJerome Trail scored against London Cornish. Picture: Neil Marshall
Jerome Trail scored against London Cornish. Picture: Neil Marshall

The Hooks Lane outfit clinched a 45-24 bonus-point success and it was the result the senior coach feels it's been a '˜long time coming.'

Havant had a difficult start to the season having been forced to play all of their games away from home.

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Despite seven straight defeats, the coaches and players remained positive throughout.

Knight reckons his side's maiden victory of the campaign is just reward for keeping the faith.

The senior coach said: '˜It has been a long time coming but all the while we have continued to work incredibly hard.

'˜So many things have gone against us.

'˜In this game, however, all the things we have been working on came together.

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'˜It was more like the Havant we know from the past couple of seasons.

'˜At times in attack we were very good and our defence was fantastic.

'˜This is the huge shot in the arm that we need and will give us all a boost.

'˜We had talked all week about using our week off as an opportunity to recharge our batteries.

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'˜You could see the players took that on board by the intensity of their performance.'

The visitors came flying out of the blocks, scoring a converted try in the early stages. 

Good build-up play resulted in James Wise scoring wide out on the right, with Gareth Davis adding the conversion.

A few minutes later a defensive error allowed the hosts to level the scores.

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On 15 minutes makeshift-winger Jake Hewitt finished off an excellent move with a try in the left-hand corner.

Soon afterwards Ben Chambers chipped the ball over the home defence and when it bounced into his arms sprinted under the posts.

Wise also went in for his second try following a good burst through the centre by Wayne John, with Havant taking a 24-21 lead into half-time.

A home penalty at the start of the second period levelled the scores to put the game in the balance.

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But Havant swiftly grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck. 

Lee Mellor powered over for a try, which was quickly followed by another from Jerome Trail.

Finally the forwards set up an excellent platform with a series of drives for Harmundus Morgan to go over from the base of a maul and cap off Havant's victory.

Knight has called for cool, however, after Havant's first win.

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The coach added: '˜We are not naive enough to think all our problems are solved.

'˜It does, however, get a huge monkey off our back and is a positive step in the right direction.

'˜If all things go to plan we could be playing our first game at Hooks Lane this season in two weeks' time.'Â