THE BRICKIES LEAVE THE *COMMON PEOPLE OUT IN THE COLD!

NEW MILTON TOWN 2-1 COLDEN COMMON IT started badly, quickly improved, then turned into a bit of a scramble - but in the end there were three more points safely in the bag for the Brickies. Like many teams before them in recent weeks, Colden Common upped their game in the hope of putting a dent in New Milton’s impressive record. And despite having had only 48 hours to recover after beating Christchurch in the Wessex League Cup on Thursday, the Stallions came galloping out of the blocks and were ahead inside three minutes. A curling free kick in from the left was allowed to drift all the way to the far post where the unmarked Cal Archer steered it into the net with a neat glancing header. It could well have got worse, with Colden having a couple of near misses before the Brickies got their act together. After that, it was not long before the equaliser. Just eleven minutes on the clock when Elliott Pearce-Eavis made one of his typical buccaneering runs down the right and set up Callum Clarke for a perfectly-measured finish from a dozen yards. That settled things down for the Brickies and they might have been ahead immediately, but Luca Lane’s finish from Noel McCarthy-Gardiner’s set-up, took a coat of paint off the crossbar. By 19 minutes the Brickies were in front with a brilliantly worked goal. Callum Clarke twisted and turned his way past defenders on the right edge of the penalty area and hammered it hard and low into the middle for the onrushing McCarthy-Gardiner to steer in. Noel Mac almost had another immediately but his effort curled just wide, then keeper Sam Moggeridge did well to parry Cal Clarke’s shot, but Luca Lane’s follow-up flew over. Colden had done well to keep it to 2-1 at the break, but came much more into it in a fairly ragged second half. New Milton needed a third goal, which would have calmed things down. They almost had it when Moggeridge made a brilliant diving save from an Oli Lowes free kick - then McCarthy-Gardiner’s header crashed back off the crossbar. However, at 2-1, there was still the nagging fear that Colden might nick an equaliser, especially when New Milton were reduced to ten men with a sin-bin for Callum McHale. He had been on the field only a short while after replacing the injured Cal Clarke, but got into trouble for back-chatting referee Martin Underhay. That handed the impetus to Colden, but thanks to some solid defending, they were unable to take advantage, and the game petered out. New Milton now have a break from Wessex League action with a Tuesday date at home to Bishops Waltham in the Southampton Senior Cup before next Saturday’s blockbuster - hopefully Brock-buster(!) - FA Vase first round date with neighbours Brockenhurst.

NEW MILTON: Thomas; Pearce-Eavis, Franklin, Smith, Lane (Scott 88), Husher, Lowes, Carswell, Dixon (Burns 95), Clarke (McHale 46), McCarthy-Gardiner (Rayner 81).

Attendance: 254

Man of the Match: Callum Clarke
 *PS: If you are wondering about the words in the headline, you are probably not of a certain age…so watch the video and enjoy a bit of Jarvis Cocker and Pulp from the BBC at Glasto!
! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC42DqhQC6U&list=RDNC42DqhQC6U&start_radio=1