WEEKEND REVIEW - MARCH 4
Saturday saw 1,107 through the Cams Alders gates as Fareham Town hosted a local derby against Premier Division leaders, AFC Portchester - the best attendance of the day by almost a thousand!
It ended honours even at two-a-piece, with Tom Settle’s penalty (below) earning the Creeksiders their share of the spoils (Photo: Robin Caddy).
With the Royals dropping points at Fareham; Bemerton Heath Harlequins, AFC Stoneham and Horndean all closed the gap with three points claimed on the road. The Harlequins winning on the Island by the best of three, with Stoneham winning 3-1 at Hurn Bridge and Horndean also hit three-without reply, at United Services.
Moneyfields stay fifth after collecting the three points in the Friday night fixture over sixth placed Hamble.
At the foot of the Premier Division, Bournemouth recorded a big win at basement side Alresford, the first time they’d hit six on the road since September 2018. Despite having games in hand on everyone things look pretty bleak for the Magpies, famous last words?
Pagham claimed a share of the spoils at Laverstock but Blackfield lost heavily at Shaftesbury, Portland hit four without reply to do their cause no harm even moreso as both Brockenhurst and United Services couldn’t pick up a result. So with just six points dividing 13th to 19th, it’s still a close call as to who’ll end up in the bottom two.
In Division One just two points separate the top three, so the title race shows no sign of slowing down.
Current leaders Newport IOW won convincingly at Whitchurch. New Milton beat bottom side Fleet Spurs 3-1 and Andover New Street came through on their travels by the odd goal of five at Verwood- Ross Cook helping himself to a hat trick in the process.
Also hitting a hat trick was Chris Long for Hamworthy Recreation, as the Magna Road new boys hit six without reply against Follands. The fact that both Downton and Petersfield came unstuck has certainly made the jostling for the four playoff places very interesting.
Fleet Spurs look increasingly likely to finish in the wooden spoon place- the other two slots see six clubs separated by just six points. Amesbury did themselves a massive favour with a 3-1 win over Ash, a six pointer perhaps; especially with both Ringwood and Whitchurch tasting defeat on their own patches.
Headline Photo: AFC Portchester's talisman, Brett Pitman, shields the ball against Fareham Town during their 2-2 draw at Cams Alders on Saturday (Photo: Daniel Haswell)
