Fareham held in Ashmoor thriller

Shane Vincent lines up a drag flick short corner to put Fareham 2-1 up. Picture Toby Mitcheson.

Fareham twice took the lead against Ashmoor - but had to be content with a share of the spoils after a fast and frenetic West Conference affair ended 2-2.
The slippery Henry Cort surface was perfect for a fast and furious game, punctuated by yellow cards, with the result in doubt until the final play when Fareham were unable to cash in on a penalty corner.
Fareham lit the fuse with a first minute goal – James Seager, back in midfield despite long standing Achilles problems, bursting out of defence before feeding Alex Boxall, whose low ball into the Ashmoor goalmouth was deflected home by George Davey, showing off his new close cut hair 'style'. 
The lead didn’t last long.   Playing with pace and transferring the ball effectively, Ashmoor – denied by one fine short corner save by Rory Kemp – equalized ten minutes later through Morgan Stokes.
The fast and frenetic action predictably led to some over-zealous challenges – stronger umpiring from the outset might have prevented negative reactions from both sets of players, which compounded and escalated issues.
Fareham, down to nine men at one point, had Shane Vincent and Niall Stott binned – the Scotsman was also green carded twice, culminating in the side playing short for 14 minutes.
Ashmoor had three players yellow carded.
Fareham manager Malc Davies reflected: “There is still no excuse for dissent and is unacceptable in my mind. It just never has a positive outcome or influence on the game.”
Nonetheless, it led to a very watchable game, with some often chaotic and frantic goalmouth scrambles as play swung at pace from end to end.
Fareham restored their lead 12 minutes into the third quarter with a Vincent penalty corner – his third success of the season – but Ashmoor’s response was immediate with Lewis Hammett equalising straight from the restart.
Surprisingly, it remained 2-2 with Fareham wasting an opportunity to snatch victory when they forced a penalty corner in final play.
The draw leaves Fareham in second place in the log, three points behind Bristol University, who made it five wins from six, beating winless Cheltenham 3-1.
"It was a very frantic game and great for the spectators. From our perspective, a much improved team performance compared to last week and Shame we didn’t convert in the final play of the match with the PC and steal the points. Upon reflection 2-32 was probably a fair result," Davies added.

---

Goalkeeper Rory Kemp (above) about to make an important save and (right) Fareham pile pressure on the Ashmoor goal. Cameraman Toby Mitcheson.