Horndean sweating on extent of prolific striker Connor Duffin’s midweek injury

The striker - last season’s leading Wessex League Premier goalscorer - was taken off in the first half of Tuesday’s 4-1 league win at Hamble Club.

Duffin came off worse in a 50/50 challenge just after the 20-minute mark, to be replaced by Harry Jackson.

‘It could be a MCL injury,’ reported Deans boss Michael Birmingham. ‘We’ll have to wait and see - there’s a lot of swelling at the moment.

‘It was a fair challenge, Duffers and their skipper going in for a tackle, but when Duffers stays down you know he’s injured.’

Harvey Ingledew-Coak put Hamble ahead shortly after the interval with a cross-shot that deceived keeper Cameron Scott.

It was only the second league goal in eight games that Scott had conceded this season.

Horndean restored parity on 59 minutes when Zack Willett netted his 10th goal of 2022/23 after the keeper had saved Rudi Blankson’s shot.

Tommy Tierney put the visitors ahead and, after Hamble had seen Will Gange dismissed, Chad Field and Tommy Scutt further extended their lead.

It was the Deans’ fifth straight Wessex win against a third-placed Hamble that had won their previous six league fixtures.

‘The boys showed good character after going 1-0 down,’ said Birmingham. ‘Against an organised, physical side, we found a way to win.

‘We had a good half hour when we punished them. Before that, there was very little quality.

‘It was a case of adapting to a difficult pitch - it wasn’t great - and that took us a little longer than we expected, but credit to Hamble.

‘It was the best Hamble side I’ve seen for a while - they have pace up front, they have spirit, they can mix it up, they can be aggressive.’

Fuzz Kanjanda could return to the Deans squad after a hamstring injury for this weekend’s Wessex trip to Christchurch.

With Bemerton held 3-3 by Hythe on Tuesday, Horndean are now four points adrift of the second-placed Harlequins with two games in hand.