HAVANT & WATERLOOVILLE
STADIUM
Having been home to Havant Town since 1982, the newly merged Havant & Waterlooville took Westleigh Park as their home in 1998. They have since hosted their games there, having teams such as Swansea visit in the FA Cup.
LAST SEASON’S MEETINGS
Chelmsford City 3-4 Havant & Waterlooville (3rd September 2022) – 7 games into the season and a 7-goal thriller took place in Essex. James Roberts’ penalty gave the visitors the lead before Harry Lodovica’s first Chelmsford goal levelled the scores. Joe Oastler hit back to give Havant back the lead, until Charlie Ruff also scored his first Chelmsford goal, seeing it go in level at the halfway point. Less than 10 minutes into the second half, Simeon Jackson dispatched a penalty to put Chelmsford in the lead. However, minutes later, Jake McCarthy was able to equal the scores once again. With 6 already scored, Jason Prior stepped up 5 minutes from the end to see the visitors take the points home.
Havant & Waterlooville 3-0 Chelmsford City (10th February 2023) – The Clarets headed South in early February but came home empty handed. It was a solid first half performance, as they sides went in level. It was Charlie Ruff who came back to haunt the Clarets, giving Havant the lead on the hour. A few minutes later, Mo Faal was on hand to double that, before a late counter attack saw Sam Matthews make it 3-0 in second half injury time.
A FEW CLUB LINKS
Rather recently, Charlie Ruff has featured for both sides. He played 20 games for the Clarets, scoring 7 goals before making a mid-season switch to the South coast. Most notably, Ruff scored against Chelmsford but, come the end of the season the door was back open and Ruff returned to the Clarets. In net, Havant have a former Clarets shot stopper. Ross Worner featured for the Clarets 4 times on loan from Sutton United where he left in 2019 to sign permanently for the Hawks. He has made 90 league appearances over the last 4 seasons for Havant.
THE MANAGER
Having had 2 spells as a player at Havant, Jamie Collins was thrusted into the hotseat in March 2023. Following former manager Paul Doswell’s move to Director of Football and then resignment from Havant, Collins now leads the first team having been a player-coach.
2022-23 SEASON
After narrowly missing out on a playoff space, Havant built on it and invested well. However, despite being in a clear title charge until February, Havant dropped off massively, struggling to put any sort of form together. In the end, it was a 10th place finish.
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