Swindon Supermarine Leave it Late

There were two matches scheduled in the Pitching In Southern League Premier Division South on Wednesday evening. However, the game between Tiverton Town and Hayes & Yeading United was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch at the Ian Moorcroft Stadium.

That left just the match at the Webbswood Stadium between sixth-placed Swindon Supermarine and Gosport Borough remaining.

And it saw Lee Spalding’s `Marine move to within three points of fifth-placed Poole Town – and with a game in hand – after recording a 3-1 victory.

However, the hosts had to work hard for their win, and it wasn’t until very late on that the home crowd and management could relax.

Supermarine took the lead after 24 minutes when Joe Tumelty laid the ball off to Zack Kotwica to fire past Boro `keeper Pat O’Flaherty.

But on the half-hour mark, a defensive lapse allowed Harvey Rew to pull the visitors back on level terms.

The second half saw O’Flaherty save well from Tumelty, new signing George Cowmeadow (see separate new item) and then, on 77 minutes, James Harding was brought down in the area, only for the Boro keeper to thwart him from the resulting penalty.

Josh Gould in the home goal wasn’t inactive, however, and he twice had to pull off decent saves to keep the scoreline level.

Then, in the final minute of normal time, a free-kick clipped into the box caused problems for the `Marine defence and Harding this time managed to find the back of the net with a swift turn and shot.

With 4 minutes of stoppage time played, the home side made sure of the points when Henry Spalding, son of the manager, dinked the ball past O’Flaherty to make it 3-1.