Hastings United 2 Whitehawk 0

Isthmian League Division One South East, Monday August 30th

My second game of the Bank Holiday weekend saw me take a trip to The Pilot Field in Hastings, it's a ground I have always wanted to do, so this seemed a good time to go and do it, and it saw Hastings United take a deserved win in the Sussex derby against Whitehawk in front of a bumper bank holiday crowd of 1,214.

Now I had been warned about how hilly the walk from the centre of Hastings up to The Pilot Field was, although it still did not prepare me for the assault that was to come, the first hill was steep but not to long although still tough, however, after getting over that mound and down the other side, the second climb went on for what seemed an eternity, and sadly there was no one at the summit by the lovely turnstile at the ground to give me oxygen, it would have come in handy!!!

What I was given though was free entry to the ground once the turnstile had opened, courtesy of  Hastings United First Team Performance Analyst James McCrossan (twitter handle @MccrossanJames), who had contacted me prior to the game and offered to put my name on the gate as his guest for the day, a wonderful gesture, sadly I did not get to see him but it was very much appreciated and it certainly saved me some money that was for sure, which does help, so thank you James.

Once inside I took my first look at the wonderful old ground that is The Pilot Field, it has a wonderful old stand, and also a lovely old terrace behind one of the goals next to the bar, it was certainly oozing character, that's what these new grounds do not have, character, and history too, I miss old grounds like this, so it was nice to experience this one today that was for sure.

Hastings were taking on Sussex rivals Whitehawk who had travelled the 37 miles from the outskirts of Brighton where they are based, and both sides were searching for their first league wins of the campaign, both had progressed in the FA Cup though, Hastings won 3-0 at Beckenham Town whilst Whitehawk had a walkover win against Whyteleafe, however both sided first two league encounters had yielded a draw and a defeat.

Who would grab the bragging rights here though, as mentioned in the opening paragraph a healthy bank holiday crowd had turned up to watch this one, and no doubt the majority of the crowd inside the stadium would have been encouraged and happier of the two sets of supporters as Hastings had done most of the pressing, but they lacked a cutting edge in the final third.

The visitors did see an effort whistled wide but this was their only real effort in a half in which they were certainly on the back foot for the majority, so they would have been happy to have reached the break level, although they had lost Freeman to an apparent head injury after he took two blows to the head during the first period, the first one saw him needing a Terry Butcher style bandage around his head, but after a second blow he was dragged off as it wasn't safe for him to continue.

It had been that type of game thus far, lots of fouls and niggly scrappy moments, with very little quality shown, but this being a derby neither side was going to give the other much, but as said if we were going to see a goal it looked more likely to be from the hosts, and on the hour mark they broke the deadlock when Sam Hasler swung in a free kick from the right with his left foot towards the near post, catching out keeper Stroomberg who could only help it on its way into the net, and cued mass celebrations amongst the home contingent.

Stroomberg would have been disappointed not to have kept it out if truth be told, but he then made two brilliant saves not long after that, with the second one a magnificent stop from point blank range, the hosts could not quite believe it, and you kept thinking would they rue these chances to probably put this contest to bed.

There was a brief spell thereafter when Whitehawk, who had been rather ordinary up till this point it has to be said, did threaten to maybe force a leveller, but in truth host keeper Louis Rodgers had little to do in the way of saves, and with time running out Hastings again looked to end this contest and saw substitute Sam Adams thump an effort against the post.

With the amount of stoppages for injuries in both halves, a total of ten minutes was added on overall, with four added on at the end of the game meaning the hosts just had to see those four minutes out to take a superb win, but they went one better, sealing the contest once and four all as with The Hawks pressing for a leveller, Hastings saw Ben Pope run through and slot beyond Stroomberg and draw a huge roar from the home fans, what a noise, and what a win for the home side, they have got their league campaign up and running now.

It had not been the greatest of games if truth be told, but the atmosphere more than made up for that, and made it a very enjoyable day out that was for sure, I thoroughly enjoyed me trip to The Pilot Field and also was grateful for the downhill descent back to Hastings station afterwards, no oxygen needed on the way back!!! Not sure Whitehawk enjoyed their journey back afterwards though, they were fairly poor in this contest and have work to do no doubt.

Full Time Hastings United 2 Whitehawk 0