HASLEMERE 4, FAREHAM II 5

A NINE-GOAL tussle went agonisingly against Haslemere who now find themselves dragged into a relegation dogfight.

The Blues are third from bottom, only a point above basement side Wanderers, with six games left to save their hard-won status in Hants/Surrey Regional 1.

This was a classic game of two halves as Fareham 2nd XI overturned a three-goal deficit to snatch maximum points, despite being down to nine men at one point.

Haslemere began the match on the front foot and piled on the pressure.

Chances went begging, but it was not long before the Blues forged in front with a Nic Cope penalty flick after Chris Fox’s drag-shot from a short corner hit a defender on the line.

Haslemere’s midfield duo of Elliott Hall and Andy Major were dominant at this stage and a second goal soon followed.

Playing a give-and-go with Barney Green on the right, Hall went on to beat the keeper with a delightful lofted shot.

And before the break, the Blues appeared to be out of sight after adding a third. A brilliant crossfield aerial ball from Rob Grech found Hall free on the right and his low shot beat the keeper to the far post.

Early in the second half, Fareham managed to grab one back through Greg Cox from a short corner, but Cope bagged his 18th goal of the campaign to restore the three-goal cushion and Haslemere seemed to be homing in on victory.

But then the unthinkable happened. Midway through the half and after a rather innocuous challenge by Cope on the keeper, the visitors were forced to finish the game without their regular number one between the sticks and their cause looked hopeless when they went down to nine men for a spell.

But Fareham’s depleted side rallied to force a short corner and Cox converted. A carbon-copy Cox goal soon made it 4-3 and Fareham’s hitman levelled the match up at 4-4 with his fourth, from yet another short corner, this time following a one-two move at the top of the circle.

Some comeback – and there was still time for either side to snatch a winner.

Haslemere went on the attack, striving to make amends for their second-half debacle, and were unlucky not to be awarded a short corner of their own.

But it was Fareham who completed their remarkable revival with the killer goal. After some intricate passing down the baseline, George Davey’s shot beat Nick Bull and Haslemere were beaten.

Things don’t get any easier for the Blues were travel to second-placed Wimborne this Saturday.