Town outschooled by Solent students

Fareham Town were outschooled at Cams Alders tonight as the students of Team Solent proved the masters in a 2-1 win in the Wessex League premier division.
Ash Tattersall  set up Jay Ripiners goal for Fareham Town tonight but the Reds were beaten 2-1 at Cams Alders by Team Solent    Picture: Innes MarlowAsh Tattersall  set up Jay Ripiners goal for Fareham Town tonight but the Reds were beaten 2-1 at Cams Alders by Team Solent    Picture: Innes Marlow
Ash Tattersall set up Jay Ripiners goal for Fareham Town tonight but the Reds were beaten 2-1 at Cams Alders by Team Solent Picture: Innes Marlow

It was a fourth successive league defeat for the Reds.

Boss Steve Stone, though, was proud of the effort and gutsy performance his side put in against quality opponents.

He said: ‘We were up against probably the best footballing side in our league – they are virtually full-time and have mainly come out of the professional game.

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‘All of our preparation was down to working on shape, pattern and frustrating them.

‘We worked ever so hard to deny them space and I thought we did well for long periods.

‘Their first goal was clearly offside and their second was a wonderful strike.’

The student team of Solent University soon settled into a slick, quick passing game.

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For the opening 20 minutes the Reds found themselves chasing shadows as they tried to contain their pacy visitors.

Home goalkeeper Luke Douglas was forced to scramble the ball away when a free-kick bounced awkwardly in front of him.

And it was no surprise when the visitors took a 13th-minute lead.

Jesse Waller-Lassa picked the ball up midway inside the Fareham half, burst past three defenders and tucked his shot past Douglas.

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From the restart it took an outstanding save by Bradley Banda to deny Josh Taylor an instant equaliser as the Reds threatened for the first time.

Fareham continued to come under pressure after that rare foray forward but remarkably broke out to seize a 38th-minute equaliser.

Substitute Ash Tattersall raced upfield and picked out Jay Ripiner who drilled a low shot into the far bottom corner of the net.

The students were soon back on the attack at the start of the second period.

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Fareham, however, continued with their stout defence to frustrate the visitors attacks.

Up front, Simon Woods was working hard for the home side to try to create something from scraps.

The visitors regained the lead on 65 minutes with Waller-Lasson grabbing his second goal.

The nippy visiting attacker got away from his marker and fired his shot across Douglas into the far corner.

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Fareham felt they had a good shout for a penalty turned down in the closing stages as they refused to give up.

And boss Stone was far from disappointed by what he had seen from his side, joking events off the field of play had given him even further reason for cheer this week.

‘It’s all looking very positive here and we are looking forward,’ he added.

‘I’ve made two major signings this week – a washing machine and a tumble drier, which means I no longer have to take all of the kit home to wash it any more!’

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Fareham Town: Douglas, Maunder, Smith, Davis, Fisher, Grimshaw, Kimber, Henry, Ripiner, Taylor, Woods.

Subs: Andrews, Boyle, Tattersall, Morosanu, Szemis

Elswhere, an early penalty from Nathan Kirby and a late strike from substitute Alex Baldacchino saw AFC Portchester collect three points in a 2-1 win at Andover Town.

Moneyfields are in action tomorrow night at Whitchurch United (7.45pm).

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