Defensive lapses cost Jets again

 

Hanwell Town 4 Jets 3

Spartan Premier Division
21 August 2010

Jets travelled to Hanwell still looking for their first league points of the campaign despite having played some good football in their opening three games. Injuries meant there were changes to the squad, bringing a place in the starting line-up for Adam Lowton and positions on the substitute bench for Ant Shepherd, Lewis Putman and Chris Killer.

Adam Lowton didn’t take long to get on the score sheet, scoring in the 15th minute, when, after some really good work from Warren Gladdy who cut down the right wing before firing a low hard drive into the penalty area, he finished off well at the near post.

In what was a competitive and very close first half the only surprise was that there were no more goals before half-time as both teams seemed hell-bent on attack.

The second half, however, made up for that as both teams continued to attack at full throttle. Hanwell equalised on the hour when a low drive was turned into the net at the near post by Colin Jenkins.

It didn’t take long, however, for Jets to regain the lead with Tim O’Mara providing a forceful finish from six yards out in the 65th minute.

But again, from a promising position, Jets defensive errors hurt them again in the final 20 minutes. It started with an unfortunate handball from Steve Brown (the Hanwell shot looked to be going well wide) that gave Hanwell the opportunity to equalise from the penalty spot in the 70th minute.

Hanwell then scored two more in the final 10 minutes of the game, poor defensive marking at a Hanwell corner being responsible for the fourth goal.

Jets still had time to pull one back. Jets now had Ant Shepherd, Lewis Putman and Lee Armitt (still recovering from a bad shoulder injury) now on as substitutes, and it was Ant Shepherd who headed on in midfield into the path of Lee Armitt who ran through to score.

Another frustrating defeat for Jets, and their defensive mistakes are offsetting some good work through the team when they are on the attack. Despite the fourth league defeat, Jets do look capable of putting some good results together if they can iron out their defensive lapses.

Andrew Lomas and Spencer Bellotti shared the man of the match for Jets.