Havant Need To Start Prioritising

Havant and Waterlooville will always be best known for their heroics in the FA Cup in January 2008.

The non-league side went to Anfield and after taking the lead twice the five-time European Champions eventually overcame them.

Last season their cup success worked as a welcome distraction alongside their league form, and once the cup run was over the club came within just two points of a playoff place.

Considering the huge distraction of the cup it was very impressive that the same side could get on with the relative comedown of the normal league season.

Hopes were high for the new season, with a possible further foray into the FA Cup, and more importantly a playoff finish. However, their cup heroics were cut short in the first round, as League Two Brentford knocked the Hawks out of the cup in a 3-1 defeat.

Havant’s cup form hasn’t ended at the FA Cup, however, as their progress in the FA Trophy has taken them to the quarterfinal stage after beating Crawley Town 2-0, avenging the defeat they suffered against the same team in the Setanta Shield.

They will go to York City on Saturday in the Trophy quarterfinal, a game that could leave them just a two-legged semifinal away from an appearance from Wembley, something that is a dream of any footballer.

With this sort of opportunity on offer, you can understand that at the quarterfinal stage the players will be taking the game very seriously.

Giving clubs from non-league this sort of opportunity to play at the home of football for me is a brilliant thing to do. It means the stadium can cater for every real fan that may wish to go and it gives the fans and the players a real day out.

The result is almost seen as secondary, as the day out is one of the few fans of any club who reach the final could possibly experience.

If Havant are knocked out by the Blue Square Premier side then they will return to the league. But unlike last year their relative cup runs seem to have taken over their season, with their league position reflecting that particular commitment.

The club find themselves deep in a relegation battle just a point above the drop zone. A frightening statistic for the Hawks is that they have recorded just two wins since the middle of September, with their cup run taking over their season.

In fact, the club could have been worse off if it weren’t for their reasonable start to the season with four of their season's six wins coming in the opening nine games.

That start, reflective of the side in mid-table, gives a clear sign that the different cup runs, which have been strung over the last five months, have affected the club's league form.

Their form in other cup competitions has been nothing short of remarkable, with 16 matches already played in knockout competitions, and of course they still remain in one.

Do these stats give the impression of crazy prioritising? And can this club really ever put their league form in front of any cup competition? Has last year's cup success now inbedded the importance of knockout competitions in the club forever?

We see clubs in the higher echelons of the football league fielding weakened sides in the cup competitions, so they can protect their squad and focus fully on their league form.

After all, many teams would much rather see their league form succeed instead of enjoying a long cup run with promotion and relegation issues usually dominating the club's concentration.

This doesn’t seem to be the case for Shaun Gale’s side as they seem slow to grasp that their league form is a vital part of any team's season.

Relegation after such an impressive season last year would be a huge step down for the club, who heavily invested the revenue gained for their cup run in securing the club's future.

However they lost a significant number of players from the squad that gave them the cup run, losing both Rocky Baptiste and Ritchie Pacquette to Maidenhead United.

But you can’t judge the club for letting these players go. One of the downfalls to the highly covered cup run is that people up and down the country would hear about the achievements, and the players involved are basically in the shop window, and the club couldn’t stand in the way of any of their players.

You could even say Havant have been a victim of their own success. They lost a healthy amount of their players, lost focus from the league, and as a result their league position has suffered.

The news this week that their chairman Marcus Hackney is stepping down as chairman is another blow to the club, who are feeling the full force of what success can bring to the club.

Hackney admitted he couldn’t deal with the pressure of his own business and running the club as well, a factor certainly down to the club's ever-increasing profile.

On the pitch the club need to focus on their league form first and foremost. And as much as many of the players would want to win on Saturday away at York, a defeat would put full concentration on their dreadful league form, surely something that would be a change for the better.

For me, if the club made it to the semifinal, a match that would be one of the biggest in the club's history, the player focus would be distracted even further. As their league form goes, it would irretrievable.

I personally think a massive effort is already required to keep the club up, but if further cup success came, then I couldn’t see Havant surviving in Blue Square South.

If they were to drop down a league then all this publicity they have received over the last year wouldn’t be worth it, and certainly wouldn’t be in keeping with the huge ambition the club has.

As big as a Wembley place is, surely things need to be put in perspective. And if their faltering league position can’t kick them into action, then nothing can.