6 A SIDE BACK AT HAVANT FOR 2023

After what felt like a long two weeks off for the festive period our teams were ready and eager to get back to action last night as we held our 1st match night of 2023 at Westleigh Park. The season carried on where we left of but we welcomed former champions Don't Go Nowhere back to the prem and they came in at an important time as the title race enters it's final stages and the way the fixtures fall means they will play a significant role in where the trophy ends up come the end of the season. This week they played Westy, searching for their 1st title win and in a couple of weeks they face serial champions Cardiac Arrest in a game that could confirm Cardiac as league winners. The impact has been immediate with Westy going down 5 - 3 to start the new year. Jonsun Smart scored 2 but Ryan McAndrew did the same for DGN and goals from Jack Legg and Jake Grant meant it was a winning return for their team and a 2 point gap at the top for Westy to now overcome if their dreams of lifting the Leisure Leagues trophy are to become a reality. 

Cardiac carried on doing Cardiac things, picking up another win as they put 6 past OAP's. Matt Boylan was on target for them but 2 each from James Crane and Glen Morrison meant that the reigning champions got 2023 off to the perfect start. Puff Puff Pass next week and then DGN, win both of those and another title will be all but confirmed. It really couldn't be more exciting as we enter the last 3 weeks of the season. Next week sees the returm of another good prem side as AW.FC make a come back to action, they take the place left by Six Bells Vets who bowed out yesterday. Puff Puff Pass took a 5 - 0 win from what should have been their game, if only i'd know sooner i could have had AW involved but it all happened on match day, despite having 2 weeks to plan it. These things happen, it's just frustrating for Puff Puff who went without a game. They remain 3rd though and are still an outside shout for the title themselves but will have to beat Cardiac next week to stay in the hunt.

The top 3 in Division One all kicked off the new year with wins. Smashers putting a big dent in Meat FC's promotion hopes with a 4 - 1 win. Jake Snook's hattrick keeping his teams noses in front at the top of the table as they look to fend off the challenge from Rapid Decline who trail by 2 points. All Rapid can do is keep winning and then hope to do a job on the leaders in the final game of the season, even that might not be enough though as Smashers boast a significantly superior goal difference at the moment. Win they did this week though, 5 - 4 against a strong Hangover 96 side who's league position doesn't reflect their quality. Liam Brewer bagged a hattrick for Hangover but 2 from Ryan Compton went a long way towards the tight and massively important win for Rapid Decline. One point back in 3rd are Kye Rovers who will be delighted to have come away from their game with BottleJobs with 2 points in their back pockets, Jordan Evans seems to score every week and he was joined on the new year score sheet by Ben Staples and Harry Sutton to give their side the 3 - 2 win. 

It was goals galore in Division Two to start the year with the net rippling no less than 21 times across the 3 games. leaders Bub Bub picked up another important win in their quest to lift the league trophy, getting past 3rd placed AFC Mole Hill 5 - 3 thanks to a couple of good strikes from skipper Curteis Squire. Bub Bub lead by just a point though from PCS Vets who slipped up this week against WRL Utd, It was a brilliant match up which saw Aiden Griffiths score twice as did Tom Titchmarsh as WRL look to hang onto their spot in the division. It was quite a blow to PCS though who came into the night top and now have ground to make up on Bub Bub. They are still in a prime spot to gain promotion but the title win just got a little harder for the Vets. Lee Harris netted a fine hattrick for The Hurricanes as they picked up a good win over Keith FC. The bottom side scored a couple through Freddie Mordue but it was Hurricanes who came out on top to leave them 4th with 3 weeks to go in the campaign. 

Game of the night took place in Division 3 as 1st Vs 2nd met in a massive game for both teams. Josh Cobb bagged two for Tekkerslovakia only for Ethan Reen to do likewise for leaders Peter File, the game ended in a dramatic 3 - 3 draw, a result that doesn't really help either side and gave Westleigh Rovers the chance to edge their way into contention at the top of the division. They won 4 - 0 against WhatDivock thanks to 2 goals from Ron Wesley and now find themselves in the promotion places just a point off the lead, what a finish to the season this could be for the Div 3 sides in what is a really competitive league. One of our newest teams Dyslexia FC picked up their 1st win as a side having started the new year with a good 2 - 0 win over Willian Your Mouth who remain 4th despite the loss.

Such a great night of games to kick start 2023, thank you to all the teams who got themselves sorted and ready to play. We have close to 150 players involved on a Monday night and the league continues to go from strength to strength, this definately feels like the best season we have had so far so thanks for being part of it. As always its a big thanks to Mike and his crew who ref and manage match nights for us. Great work as always from all 4 of them. 

So exciting to see how this season wraps up over the next few weeks, hopefully 2023 will be a great one for everyone involved in Leasure League in Havant.

Thanks again and good luck next week