‘I’d have snapped your hand off for four points’ – Baffins Milton Rovers follow up Bemerton draw with Wessex League victory at Portland

Rovers followed up a 1-1 draw at lofty Bemerton with a 3-1 victory at Portland United.

Now he would be equally delighted with the same points return from Baffins’ next two fixtures - at home to Cowes on Tuesday and at second-placed Horndean next weekend.

‘If somebody had offered me four points from those two games beforehand I’d have snapped their hand off,’ stated Thompson. ‘Those are two tough places to go.

‘Those two performances have been really pleasing. We deserved to win at Bemerton, second half we absolutely battered them, and we were in total control at Portland.’

With Charlie Oakwell and Harvey Welham unavailable, Thompson handed a first senior start to central midfielder Harry Fox.

And it was the teenager who was fouled to allow Steve Ramsey to net his first Baffins goal from a free-kick that took a deflection on its way in.

Portland equalised shortly after the restart, but Rovers were back in front almost straight away through skipper Jason Parish. Tom Vincent completed the victory.

Former Moneyfields striker Junior Kamara, recently signed from Wessex rivals Pagham, made his first Wessex appearance for Baffins as a late sub.

Thompson has also signed Petersfield Town centre half Josh Rose, who is a product of the Gosport Borough centre of excellence.

Rose trained with Rovers for the first time last Thursday, and could feature in the squad for Tuesday’s home game with Cowes.

Thompson decided to sign Rose after Ryan Kennedy’s broken collarbone left him with just Ed Sanders and Portchester ‘loanee’ Tyler Giddings as natural central defenders.

Oakwell and Welham are also both available against Cowes, who claimed a surprise point from a 0-0 draw at Bemerton at the weekend.

‘I didn’t see that one coming.’ said Thompson of Cowes’ point at Moon Park. ‘But probably not many people would have said we would get a draw there either.’