Fareham returned to action after the half term break with a disappointing 2-2 draw at Salisbury. Three players were missing due to injury and illness but the squad of 14 still looked good enough to win the game and was well on the way to a victory at half-time before the home side recovered to share the spoils.

The visitors started well, winning two early penalty corners, and took the lead in the 11th minute. Sarah Atkinson intercepted an attempted Salisbury clearance before feeding the ball to ZOE STRIDE who guided the ball past the keeper for the opening goal.

The main danger from the home side came from quick counter attacks and they caught Fareham short of defenders on a couple of occasions. The first of these came in the 23rd minute when Nicola George had a shot cleared off the line by Katie Paxman.

Fareham responded a minute later to double their advantage. Leah Payne had a good game up front in an unfamiliar role and intercepted a Salisbury pass across the top of the ‘D’ before setting up SARAH ATKINSON whose high shot into the far corner continued her run of a goal a game in the first six matches.

The away side was good value for their two goal lead but were once again reminded of the threat from the hosts when they almost pulled one back from their first penalty corner in the 29th minute. Libby White was in position by the post to stop a shot and clear the ball off the line.

In the closing minutes of the half Sammie Powell and Sarah Atkinson had close range shots saved by Louise Davidson in the Salisbury goal.

The 2-0 lead at the interval was probably a fair reflection of the first half and could have been bigger however the home side had shown enough to suggest that they could potentially get back into the game and the next goal looked likely to be important.

The half-time talk appeared to have the desired effect on the home team who held the initiative at the start of the second half and they pulled a goal back in the 45th minute. LILY JACKSON received a pass into the ‘D’ with her back to goal and was able to turn and shoot past Sophia Barclay.

Six minutes later the score was level as HANNAH CORNISH equalized after a long run into the ‘D’ with the Fareham defenders struggling to muster an effective challenge.

After the shock of losing a two goal lead for the second match in a row, Fareham tried to regroup and came close to scoring when Lydia Jackson and Zoe Stride linked to set up a chance for Leah Payne who was closed down by the Salisbury keeper.

With ten minutes remaining the away side came close to regaining the lead when Sarah Atkinson shot narrowly wide from a penalty corner. The final good opportunity fell two minutes later when a pass was threaded through to Gracie Coleman. She took the ball wide of the keeper and crossed the ball back into the middle but Sarah Atkinson couldn’t quite get a clean enough contact in front of goal. As the game drew to a close Fareham had created the better chances to break the deadlock but the quality of the final pass or the finish just fell short of what was required.

The game ended with a final score of 2-2. Salisbury had played well in the second half and deserved a reward for their efforts but, as at Basingstoke and Winchester, we struggled to regain control of the match after the break following a good first half – in sharp contrast to our home performances where we have played very well in the second half, albeit against teams near the foot of the table.

It was a very disappointing result but we did get some assistance from results elsewhere. Reading 3s and Basingstoke were both beaten with Oxford University the big winners on the day. As a result we were fortunate to find ourselves just a point behind the leaders in 3rd place with two points separating the top four sides. We are also the only team still unbeaten but we know that we must play much better if we want to remain in contention as we now start a run of matches leading up to Christmas which includes games against five of the current top seven.

We are back at Henry Cort on Saturday, for our first home game in a month, when we take on Amersham & Chalfont (13.30).