Adam Lovatt

Written by Joseph Knight

Ladies and gentlemen please allow me to introduce you to Adam Lovatt, box to box midfielder at Hastings United. Read on to find out a bit of background about this promising young player and the journey that brought him to the club and his progress so far.

 

2015/16 Season

The young midfielder who is based in the Sussex town of Eastbourne, started his football with Eastbourne Town FC Under 18s in the 2015/16 season. One recognizable achievement was having a good FA youth cup run and in the first qualifying round Eastbourne Town won 2-0 away at Sussex rivals Hastings United. Adam was a standout player in the game playing the box to box midfielder role which played a part to Eastbourne gaining their clean sheet.

Adam and his Eastbourne Town teammates got to the 2^nd qualifying round of the FA youth cup away to conference side Ebbsfleet eventually losing 3-2 in after extra time. Regardless of the result still a great experience for the young midfielder.

Lovatt had a great season for the Under 18s and in result gaining a name for himself especially with the Sussex FA under 18s representative team. Having already played a part in the Sussex FA under 16s team the under 18s manager called Lovatt up to represent his county. 

 

 

 

 

Adam moved to local side Sussex club Eastbourne Borough during the season playing for Boro under 18s Ryman league team and the under 19s academy side.

 

Adam had a historical season with his Sussex FA under 18 teammates making it all the way in the national FA county youth cup to the final against Liverpool county under 18s. The final was not held at Sussex headquarters in Lancing but however held at the Checkatrade.com Stadium home of Sussex football league side Crawley Town FC. The stadium presented the perfect opportunity for Lovatt to showcase what he can do in front of scouts from around the country and national newspaper press.

Sadly, for Adam the resulted ended in a 2-0 defeat against Liverpool County. Despite the result this would have been a season to remember for club and county.

Below is the video of highlights of the game by Football Exclusives.

 

2016/17 Season

Adam started the new season with Eastbourne Borough FC Academy team under the management of Chris Agutter. There were mixed results for Adam and his teammates however player development wise Lovatt was leaps and bounds to progress into mens football.

http://www.ebfc.co.uk/teams/83406/news/dasi-does-it-1727107.html

 

Adam joined a YouTube football trial show called Hashtag United Academy where the player gets a reputation with followers from YouTube etc. This gave Lovatt the opportunity to showcase his football skills through the power of social media.

Adam got all the way to the closing stages of the competition however to the controversially and to the disgust of the YouTube followers Lovatt was evicted from the show. However, he was only of the most successful players on the show. The owner of the show had to explain to the viewers of his decision.

 

During the early stages of the season Adam went on loan to Hailsham Town FC who were at the time three leagues below his parent club Boro. He done this to gain valuable first team experience while still being with Eastbourne Borough’s Academy. In November 2016, Adam played in the Sussex Senior Cup against at the time Championship side Brighton, who fielded their Under 23s team in this competition. Lovatt was in the heart of the Hailsham midfield. A spirited performance ended in a 3-0 loss in front of over 500 spectators.

 

 

 

The young midfielder at the end of the 2016/17 season earned a first team contract at Eastbourne Borough by newly arrived boss Jamie Howell. The new boss was pleased to of hear promising reports of hard work, determination and attitude to award the academy with a contract.

http://www.ebfc.co.uk/news/academy-products-sign-on-for-20172018-1799458.html

Signing for Hastings United FC

2017/18 Season

After a few first team sub appearances in pre-season for Eastbourne Borough, Lovatt was in seek of more first team opportunities. In September 2017 the young midfielder linked up with his ex-Eastbourne Borough academy manager Chris Agutter at Hastings United. Adam started training with the first team and played academy games for United and for their Under 23s side with his progress being overseen my Agutter who at the time was first team assistant manager until at the time first team manager Adam Hinshelwood left the club and days later Chris Agutter was appointed first team manager. He began making the squad his own and turning his faith to the younger players and from October time 18-year-old Lovatt played lots of games as a key action midfielder and became a player the manager could rely on. Over the season the all action midfielder got his desire of playing regular first team football in the Bostik South league. He was a supporter’s favourite someone who does the simple things in midfield and hardly gives the ball away. Lovatt helped his team finish 9^th in the league table a remarkable finish for the team that was about 17^th or 18^th in the league table when Adam Lovatt first arrived.

On the 19^th of March 2018 it was published on the Hastings United website that Adam Lovatt had been offered a first team contract for the new 2018/19 season with a further year option. Hastings manager commented by saying “Adam is integral to the way we play, I’d go as far to say that he’s one of our most important players, he does an awful lot of very good work that goes under the radar, in and out of possession Adam is positionally exceptional and he’s only going to improve. Once Adam increases his output in terms of forward passes I firmly believe you’d be hard pushed to find a better #4 at this level, I think he’s that good!!”.