Great victory sets Island up for tricky away tie

Isle of Wight II 6 - 0 City of Portsmouth

A hat-trick from skipper Alan Ball helped the Island cruise to a comfortable win against their near opponents in the Hampshire Open League. The Island started as they meant to go on, forcing a penalty corner in the first minute which was missed. But the home side never looked back, and soon began dominating play all over the park. The Island took the lead after ten minutes through Stubbings who beat four players before calmly slotting home. This became two soon after when Dixon was first to react to a drilled free hit to deflect the ball home in a move off the training ground. Ball then got his first of the match as he smashed home from the top of the area and he was to add his second before half time with a tap-in.

Sensing a big score, the Island continued to play well after the break, creating numerous chances, and but for some good goalkeeping and missed shots, the Island could've had a cricket score. Bruce scored his first goal for the club since joining from Woking in the summer as he was first to a saved shot to flick over the stranded keeper, and Ball completed his hat-trick with a drag-flick from a penalty corner routine. On the rare occasions COP did threaten the Island, the defence comfortably dealt with any attacks. Despite continuing to pressure their opponents the Island couldn't add to the scoreline. Such was the home team's domination of this game, Portsmouth did not have a single shot on goal in the entire match. The closest they came was hitting the side-netting from their only penalty corner which was rather amusingly given as a goal at first but after the umpire realised the stunned silence around Smallbrook from both sides and spectators, was correctly changed to a 16 yard hit!. It means after five games, the Island already has more points this year than they managed in ten matches last season. This weekend though will be a different story as Haslemere host the Island, a team that are renowned for being very strong at their own ground.