Aldershot & Farnham (A&F) Hockey Club’s men’s first team produced a spirited performance to draw 3-3 against Havant’s second team in South Central Division One South on Saturday.

A controversial short corner with three minutes remaining saw runaway league leaders Havant equalise and spare their blushes against relegation-threatened A&F.

Havant had dropped just two points all season and had an eight-point cushion at the top of the league. The visitors were quickly into their stride and a long aerial ball caught out the A&F backline, who conceded a penalty corner. The corner by Jonathon Pickett took an unfortunate deflection past a helpless Mark Edgley to give Havant a first-minute lead.

A&F reacted well to that early setback. A quickly-taken free hit led to a short corner, with Max Long finding Ian Metcalfe by the right-hand post to restore parity.

With the game being played at a high tempo A&F won another corner. This time James Huggins’ drag towards the bottom left-hand corner went in via Metcalfe’s stick to put A&F 2-1 up.

Havant came roaring back with Nathan Royle firing in from a tight angle on the left of the circle to make it 2-2.

The excitement continued. Good work by Aaron Buchanan and Long in the middle of the pitch sent A&F racing clear with a four-on-one. Charlie Dews’ attempt looped into the air but debutant Charlie Johnson was on hand to smash in overhead into the empty goal to put A&F 3-2 up.

Johnson joined A&F from Old Georgians to join his younger brother Harry in the team. Playing in a central midfield area, he covered a lot of ground and brought energy and skill to the team. Recent graduate Jamie Findlayson, who was with the club before heading off for university, also joined A&F from Old Georgians last week and had a strong game in defence.

A&F led 3-2 at half-time and had played exceptionally well in the first half, but Havant increased the pressure on them in the second half. Edgley twice made excellent double saves, while Huggins was having a solid game in wide defensive areas and distributed the ball well.

A&F’s chances were limited but they put a shift in and held a solid shape. In the dying minutes, Havant were awarded a short corner when Stu Morhall seemed to have diverted a ball into a Havant player’s foot, but the decision was given against him and Pickett flicked inside the right-hand upright to make it 3-3.

It was still a very good point for A&F, who edge up to ninth in the 12-team league, with the bottom two going down.

A&F’s men’s second team lost 6-3 at Bournemouth. Chris Randall starred for the men’s third team, the defender scored four goals in a 6-1 win at Southampton, while the men’s fourth team were overrun in the second half by Chichester’s sixth team.

Jodie Hodgson scored twice as A&F’s ladies’ second team won 2-0 at home to Chichester. The ladies’ third team were defeated 6-2 by Bournemouth.

Hayley Henning and Debbie Ridger scored late goals for the ladies’ fourth team in a 2-0 win at Hamble, a result that keeps them second in the table, behind Portsmouth on goal difference.