OPPOSITION NOTES- Havant & Waterlooville

The only professional club in the Southern League Premier South, Havant and Waterloovile are aiming for an instant return to the National League South having suffered relegation in 2023/24.

The Hawks currently sit three points behind Dorchester in the last playoff spot in 6th placed and 11 behind Gloucester City heading into the last half dozen games in what has been an inconsistent season.

Just four wins out of a possible 13 in 2025 for the Hampshire side has seen them fall out of the playoff places with Hungerford hot on their heels with 11 wins in 14.

The hosts play at Westleigh Park and their home form hasn't been part of their frustrating season for the majority of the season having lost three of their 17 games in 2024/25 and scoring the third most goals at home with only the current top two having scored more than Havant's 42.

Their home form has taken a nose dive in recent weeks with those three games aformentioned having come in their last five games.

Two of those defeats have come against two of the top three in Merthyr and Walton & Hersham with the Swans having a claim to stake of being the best side in the league in 2025.

Their most recent home defeat was against Winchester City who have only won two of their last 10 games and is a game that the hosts with their budget and professional status would be expecting to put away.

They did improve in their last showing having put four past Sholing FC but pressure is being mounted on coach Shaun North.

Their form on their travels contrasts their traditional home form where they have won just five and lost seven of their 18 games this season as they have struggled to find a consistent platform which can also be labelled towards the Tigers.

North is currently manager having joined the club last summer from his role where he was previously Portsmouth's kitman with fans becoming frustrated with the sides inconistent performances that has also seen them fail to defeat two sides in the relegation mire in Tiverton Town and Frome Town last time out in the league.

Over a 15 game period in the league, Havant are in mid-table for form with 19 points from which includes six defeats in that period in addition to having lost the attacking verve they had previously had having found the net just 22 times.

Before that run of form they had won six games in a row over November and the Christmas period before coming back to earth after losing to a struggling Plymouth Parkway side highlighting the topsy-turvy nature of their season.

The Hawks do boost a serial scorer at the level who has been in fine form once again in 2024/25 in former Southampton youngster Ryan Seager.

Seager has proven himself to be a serial scorer not just in step three of National League football but in the divisons above including 27 goals in one season in National League South for Hungerford Town followed by double digits in the National League for Dorking Wanderers.

After joining the Hawks in November of 2023, Seager has followed a double digit scoring season despite their relegation with over 20 goals in the Southern League Premier South.

He is currently the fourth top scorer in the league with only Ricardo Rees, Jack Mazzone and Olaf Koszela having scored more.

Seager is not the only star in a very stacked squad which also features Harvery Badbury who has also hit double digits this season having joined from Kent based side Chatham Town in the summer.

Leon Maloney has scored eight times having joined from AFC Totton in the summer, with the 23-year-old having previously plyed his trade in the second division of Dutch football highlighting the talent that they have.

Havant's captain is Joe McNerney a National League and League Two stalwart with Woking and Crawley Town and their vice-captain will be someone well versed to Gloucestershire fans in former Cheltenham Town midfielder Nigel Atangana who also previously played for Portsmouth and Exeter City.

In the reverse fixture it was City who took all three points right at the death after going down 1-0 within half a minute after Tyrone Duffus inadvertently heading a ball into his own net.

Within three minutes of the second half started the Tigers drew level through Joe Hanks after curling in a fantastic strike into the bottom right corner, before Hanks was at it again right at the death after bundling home a scrappy winner after the away side had cleared off the line.

Havant and Waterloovile cannot give up on their season with them just three points behind Dorchester Town and a chance to secure promotion back to the regional National Leagues just like Gloucester City but they can feel disappointed in how their has unravelled.

A run of just four wins in 2025 is not good enough for a club of their stature that were regulars in the National League South and were a side that were in the National League as recently as 2019.

For a club which is the only professional side in the divison and had a big budget for the level failing to beat Winchester, Tiverton Town and Frome Town in a five game period will have hardly pleased fans and with the high calibre of players that the club have they should be competing for the title or much closer than the 24 points off Merthyr Town that they have..

North can win them back over if they kick off the final seven games of the season with a win against City and stopping the in-form Hungerford Town to pipping them to a play-off place come the end of April and who knows what the lottery of play-offs can bring for the Hampshire side.