FAREHAM II 1, HASLEMERE 3

HAVING recorded their first win of the season the previous week, Haslemere followed up with success away to struggling Fareham II, making further progress up the Hants/ Surrey 1 table.

Haslemere’s mood was buoyant in the warm-up and from the start they looked the better organised and more cohesive team.

The Blues passed the ball around at pace and Fareham were left chasing shadows for the first quarter.

One attack down the left led to a short corner and Nic Cope stepped up to slot home a drag-flick. One-nil to the visitors.

They continued their dominance and, 10 minutes later, Andy Powell won another short corner and this time Elliott Hall converted with a precise drag-flick.

After half-time, Fareham changed their tactics and pushed higher up the pitch, essentially looking to cut the pitch in half and put pressure on the Haslemere back line which, up until then, had been allowed space and time to pick their passes forward and thus dictate the play.

Despite the efforts of midfield trio Rob Grech, Grant Roberts and Campbell Hancock, Haslemere’s flowing hockey dried up somewhat and they failed to convert the few chances on offer.

Fareham pushed hard, only to be rebuffed by the resilient Haslemere defence, with Alec Morgan giving a strong display.

Finally, however, a swift Fareham counter-attack earned them a short corner and despite a good initial save by Nick Short, Paul Metcalf followed in to pull one back for the home side.

Haslemere’s response was move up another gear and look to turn their overall superiority into a killer third goal.

With 10 minutes to go, Powell forced a short corner and Cope claimed his second of the game, against his old club, to put the game beyond a despondent Fareham.

With 10 goals, Cope now tops the scoring charts in the division.