The Yachtsmen failed to win a game at their 11th attempt despite a brave performance against a cynical Portchester side at Westwood Park on Tuesday evening (24th January).
The game was affected by the performance on an over-zealous ref that harshly sent off Eli Ahmed, booked and sin-binned captain John McKie and booked manager Max Draper, Brandon Hayward, and Mark Taylor.
The most ‘professional’ aspect of Portchester’s play was their gamesmanship, making a meal of the slightest challenge, and surrounding the card-happy ref to ensure he sanctioned the opposition for any imagined infringement.
The game began evenly, with a spirited Cowes side matching the league leaders. The first clear chance fell to Portchester in the 25th minute when Ed Hatt was forced to pull off an instinctive reaction save.
The Yachtsmen’s 1st booking came in the 25th minute for Brandon Hayward, who was penalised for a seemingly innocuous challenge.
Portchester finally unlocked the Cowes defence in the 39th minute when Brett Pitman directed a backheel to Conor Bailey, who set up Marley Ridge to score from close range (0-1)
The league leaders found themselves down to 10 men shortly before half time after Sam Pearce had been booked and sinbinned. However, the Yachtsmen failed to take advantage of the extra man, their only chance falling to Eli Ahmed, who failed to hit the target with a header.
Half time: Cowes Sports 0-1 AFC Portchester
The 2nd half began with controversy. The luckless Eli Ahmed was first booked for a very soft challenge in the 50th minute, then sent off for a 2nd bookable offence 5 minutes later. However, in his 2nd challenge, he did not appear to have made any contact with the Portchester player, despite the away side’s play acting and protesting.
Cowes manager Max Draper was booked for disputing the referee’s decision. In the 63rd minute, John Mckie was clipped by a Portchester player in the penalty area, but no spot kick was awarded. 2 minutes later, captain McKie was sin-binned for dissent.
Substitute Harri Catania came close to scoring for 9-man Cowes, but his shot narrowly missed the upright.
Then came the only real moment of quality in the game for Portchester when substitute Scott Jones dispatched a spectacular bicycle kick past Ed Hatt in the 84th minute (0-2).
Despite being down to 10 men, the Yachtsmen pressed their opponents to the final whistle. John McKie had a good effort parried by Steve Mowthorpe in the Portchester goal; Fin Phillips hit the crossbar direct from a corner.
The final word of the game went to Portchester’s Ashton Leigh, who sent a left-foot shot into the corner of Ed Hatt’s goal in the 3rd minute of injury time (0-3).
Full time: Cowes Sports 0-1 AFC Portchester
Cowes Sports: Hatt. Laird, Conway, Watson, West, McFarlane, Taylor, Hayward, Ahmed, McKie, Phillips Subs (all used): C. Neale, Catania, Wetherick, Dempsey, Coode
After the game, assistant manager Andy Brown said:
“This was a significant improvement on Saturday. The lads acquitted themselves well against a top-of-the-league side, but decisions did not go our way. Apart from the goals, Ed Hatt was rarely troubled.”
Defeat leaves the Yachtsmen deep in trouble at the bottom of the Wessex Premier, just 1 point above second-from-bottom Pagham but having played 4 games more.
PORT BLOW AWAY ASH TO ADVANCE TO 3RD SPOT IN DIVISION 1
Newport won their 4th successive game to reach 3rd spot in the Division 1 table by beating Ash United at Smallbrook.
Centre forward Joe Craig opened the scoring for the County Town club with a close-range effort just before the quarter hour mark (1-0).
It was an impressive performance from Craig, who had shots cleared off the line in the 22nd, 33rd and 34th minutes.
Meanwhile, Jordan Chapman scored his 1st goal in a Newport shirt in the 26th minute to double the Port’s lead (2-0).
Half time: Newport IoW 2-0 Ash United
Ash pulled a goal back early in the 2nd half (2-1). However, Port continued to impress, with Connor Kelly having 2 shots parried by the Ash keeper and Scott Barron seeing his header cannon off the crossbar from a Connor Kelly corner.
Full time: Newport IoW 2-1 Ash United
Newport IoW: Pitman, Colson, Hancott, Reynolds, Oatley, Barron, Kelly, Boyd-Kerr, Craig, Browne, Chapman Subs: Triggs, Nash, McDonough, Smith McCormack (gk)
Newport’s win leaves them in 3rd place in Division 1, just 2 points behind league leaders Andover New Street.
