A rare blank for the Hamlet, ending a run of scoring in 22 consecutive league matches. On the plus side we kept only our third clean sheet in the same sequence.
The chilly wind was just strong enough to be a significant factor in spoiling the game, as passes were blown off course and each side overhit too many through balls with the wind at their backs. Both keepers made several saves you'd have expected them to make, Constable pulled off the one difficult save to touch a fierce rising shot over the crossbar, and both sides wasted a small number of gilt edged chances with weak finishing or inability to react quickly enough in front of goal. The Whitehawk #7 hit the corner flag from near the penalty spot after doing well to reach a low left wing cross ahead of three defenders, then the same player shot well wide of the far post after being played in from a quick breakaway from one of our corners. Mills was unable to convert a far post cross that reached him at an awkward height, then Clifton had possibly not adjusted to the pace of the game when a low cross eluded him within about 60 seconds of coming off the bench following some magical ball skills from Binnom-Williams to bamboozle defenders on the left edge of the box.
I haven't seen a performance I could describe as disappointing (as opposed to a result, i.e. Hornchurch) for a good few months now, so I reckon we were due a bit of a dud, but at least we still took something on a day when several rivals for a top 5 place did no better. Maybe the players were a bit ring rusty after a fortnight without a game, but the games will be coming thick and fast from next Saturday with 6 in 17 days.
