Isthmian South Central 26 Dec 2024
Hanworth Villa 0
Metropolitan Police 3
- Louis Degand (40’, 51’ pen)
- Wilson Bernal (90+7’)
Match Report
Hanworth Villa manager Simon Haughney said Villa need to do better in key moments after a disappointing 3-0 loss to relegation battlers Metropolitan Police.
A brace from Louis Degand, including a spectacular 25-yard free kick, and a late goal from substitute Wilson Bernal dropped Villa to seventh place.
Haughney said: “We wasn’t good enough in the moments. We’re giving sloppy passes away, we’re too reactive, not proactive and we’re getting caught out.
“I think in the key moments, we’re letting ourselves down massively. What’s happened today is exactly the same as the last two games.
“We’ve switched off on key situations and they are pub goals we’ve given away. Poor defending, poor passes in the final third which is leaving us to counter attacks.
“I’ve told them (the players) I ain’t having that. We’ve got to be better in the moment.”
It was Villa’s third straight league defeat following losses to Southall (5-1) and Kingstonian (3-1).
Villa are now on 36 points, level with sixth-placed Harrow Borough (36) but one point behind fifth-placed Hartley Wintney (37) and six points behind third-placed Uxbridge (42).
Met Police have climbed out of the relegation zone into 17th after their sixth win of the season.
On a Boxing Day fixture at Rectory Meadow in front of 177 supporters, Villa certainly did not pull their punches and started with great hunger and intensity.
Inside the first 15 minutes, three Villa players — Sam Mead, Ben Mulley and Bruno Robertson-Tingle — were booked in a quick six-minute spell for late crunching tackles.
Mead then pulled up injured had to be helped off the pitch in the 20th minute, replaced by Theo Crawford.
It was a game of few chances although Sam Merson and George Wells tested Met Police goalkeeper Liam Beach, before Quincy Patterson saw an effort blocked just past the half hour mark.
In the 39th minute, Villa picked up our fourth yellow card of the afternoon after Abdullah Javaid fouled a Met Police attacker on the left touchline in the final third.
About the flurry of bookings, Haughney said: “We’ve got to learn as a team to work out if a referee is giving away yellows that quickly, we can’t be diving in because we know what’s going to happen.”
From the resulting set-piece came a moment of individual brilliance as Met Police’s Louis Degand curled in an unstoppable 25-yard free kick which nestled into the top corner.
Villa found ourselves trailing despite Met Police barely threatening in the first half.
Even after a double change at the interval, where Shane Dunne and Finlay Macnab replaced Mulley and Robertson-Tingle, Villa struggled to regain our foothold in the match.
Met Police were allowed to break down the left flank and Villa had Mark Smith to thank for a huge double save.
But in the 51st minute, Met Police struck again after Smith brought down Osaretin Otote in the penalty box.
Degand sent Smith the wrong way from the spot to give Villa a mountain to climb.
Villa did not give up though, throwing the kitchen sink at Met Police as we created good chances where Javaid, KJ Osu and Merson all came close to reducing the deficit.
Yet it simply was not Villa’s day, as Met Police added a third in the seventh minute of stoppage time.
Substitute Wilson Bernal raced through on goal and beat Smith one-on-one after Villa committed too many bodies forward for a corner.
Haughney said: “We got punished today. Was it a three nil game? No, but that’s what it says and it’s not good enough.
“I think with football, especially with this division, the games are so marginal and in those nine out of 12 games we nick wins.
“And in the last three games, the decisions and little things around it are not going our way. But that is no excuse.
“It all stems from me and I take all the criticism. I’m very supportive of the players and the only thing I’d say about them is we’re giving away such poor goals over the last three games.”
Villa will have less than 48 hours to regroup before travelling to Raynes Park Vale, who are ninth and three points behind us, on Saturday hoping to end our losing streak.
Haughney added: “They (Raynes Park Vale) also played today so we’re not going to be more tired than them.
“We’ve got to go in, it could be a very hard game. We’ve got to make sure we show a little bit more character at the start and we don’t give away some silly goals.”
