Hawks' Wings Clipped But Havant 'Will Improve'

It’s fair to say it wasn’t the start to pre-season that Havant & Waterlooville manager Lee Bradbury wanted in front of the club’s supporters at the weekend.

Portsmouth carried on their form from the end of last season and a 6-0 victory demonstrated the Ryman champions can’t rely on a repeat of theirs.

Manager Bradbury may not have been overjoyed at watching his side be over-run by rampant Sky Bet League One Pompey but he would rather have the lesson now than on the opening day of the Vanarama National League South season.

The Hawks start their return to the division on August 5th in a match against Chippenham Town, who won the Evo-Stik Southern Premier League.

The manager said: “We have only been back in training a week, we’ve had a handful of session.

“But we have a lot of work to do, we need to be ready for the start of the season.

“Obviously we knew how difficult it was going to be against a really strong and organised Portsmouth side and they were well ahead of us, they were far better.”

Conor Chaplin hit a 15 minute hat-trick and Bradbury said his side had “no answer” but is certain they will improve.