Hillians make heavy weather of it butare relieved to end barren home run

A 1-0 defeat to Hythe Town the previous Wednesday once again highlighted their need for more strike power. They played some decent football but once more were punished for failing to score.

On Saturday leading scorer Pat Harding ended his six-game barren spell by firing in superbly on 17 minutes. His initial pass to a colleague found its way back to him and he gave visiting keeper Danny Bracken no chance with a sweet right footed 20-yarder.

Hillians had opened brightly, playing their usual passing game despite a heavy surface that stood up remarkably well after the previous day’s deluge.

But Casuals had a few bright moments of their own, with big No 9 Craig Mullen getting in a cross that came to nothing and then on 38 minutes a superb close passing move inside the home box finally suffering a similar fate.

But overall Hillians were well worth their half-time advantage and home fans would have been hoping for more goals after the break.

But Casuals made a bold treble change at half time and that led to a distinctly uneasy first 15 minutes before Hillians started to get to grips with the new formation.

And on 65 minutes they doubled their lead somewhat against the run of play with an excellent individual goal by Ryan Thomson. It was only his second of the season but was well worth waiting for as he took on two defenders and then rounded the keeper before scoring from the angle. A defender got the last touch on