Match report: New Milton Town claim local bragging rights after beating Lymington Town 2-0

New Milton Town prolonged their stay at the Wessex League Division One summit with a 2-0 win over local rivals Lymington Town on Saturday.

The win left the home side two points clear of their nearest rivals while holding games in hand, while the defeat ended Lymington’s four-game league unbeaten run.

A bumper crowd of 464 people gathered to witness the contest, and the game started at a cracking pace, which was maintained throughout the first 45 minutes, writes Mike Prince.

“We always knew the first 15 minutes would be scrappy, and they’d come at us,” said New Milton Town manager Matt Maybury. “But we got through it, and then I felt it was fairly comfortable.”

“We created loads of chances, and I can’t remember Ollie Bull having to make a save of any note.

“I spent a lot of time over the Christmas break watching videos of Lymington Town, and we put together a game plan that the boys executed perfectly.

“This game means a lot to the fans and the locals, and I’m delighted we put on a performance like that for them!”

A taste of what was to come arrived early when Brad Snelling glanced a header just past the post after only two minutes.

After the initial stages, the game became somewhat scrappy and contentious, with both sides clearly entering into the spirit of the occasion.

Then, on 21 minutes, Barney Stone put Snelling through one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and Snelling slotted home the opening goal.

On 35 minutes, Snelling again went close, rattling the bar. Five minutes later, Stone was brought down in the box for a possible penalty, but the referee waved play on.

Almost immediately after the restart, Stone again went close when he tried to chip the goalkeeper, but the ball narrowly went over the crossbar.

At the other end, Lymington had what looked like a solid penalty claim, only for the referee to turn them down before Noel McCarthy-Gardiner went one-on-one with the keeper, but the keeper made a save, and Stone knocked the rebound over the bar.

Harry McGrath then increased New Milton’s lead with a lovely strike from the edge of the box.

Lymington skipper Ben Morris found himself in the referee’s bad books, earning a yellow card when he brought Toby Colmer down with a strong tackle, after which McCarthy-Gardiner put a lovely ball into the box, but no-one could get on the end of it.

New Milton manager Matt Maybury then made a change, bringing on Cameron Smith in place of Jack Broad before Toby Colmer earned a yellow card for a rather rash challenge.

Then, with five minutes to go, Billy Maybury brought a Lymington player down on the edge of the box, earning himself a yellow card. Lymington got the ball into the net from the resulting freekick, but the referee saw an infringement and chalked the goal off.

The final whistle arrived with New Milton leading 2-0 to claim the three points and the local bragging rights.

New Milton Town: O. Bull, J. Kinge-Phillips, E. Pearce-Eavis, B. Maybury, B. Beard, T. Colmer, J. Broad, N. McCarthy-Gardiner, B. Stone, H. McGrath, B. Snelling. Subs: C. Smith, C. McHale, O. Mayo, L. Moore.

Lymington Town: N. Trojanowski, J. Higdon, N. Bullen, C. Taylor, L. Le Moignan, L. Crozier, A. Morris, B. Morris, C. Lopez, M. McAulay, W. Johnson. Subs: J. Defries, A. Christie, R. Sesay, J. Sutherdon, E. Duell-Merrit.