Barnes: Confidence of cup win can lift Fareham

The performance director lauded the efforts of a young an inexperienced squad after they returned from the long trip to East Anglia with a 4-2 victory.

Fareham have yet to record a win in National League conference west this season.

They sit bottom of the table, having suffered five defeats from six outings.

But Barnes hopes Sunday’s victory will give the whole club confidence.

He said: ‘I was very pleased with the performance and the result, especially as we took a very young and inexperienced squad.

‘It was an away tie in which we could have easily tripped ourselves up.

‘We will gain a lot of confidence from this win.’

Fareham were handed a tricky draw at Norwich City in round two of the National Cup.

And after making the long trip to Norfolk, the Henry Cort-based outfit then got off to the worst possible start as they fell 1-0 down to a penalty corner.

The opening goal seemed to shake them into life, though, and soon Fareham were dominating proceedings.

They won numerous penalty corners before Sasha Thomas, the club’s young Australian overseas player, levelled the score.

Fareham also had a goal disallowed and, as the game entered the second half, the visitors continued to apply the pressure.

And their hard work paid off when Chris Davey tucked away a penalty stroke.

Shortly afterwards, Scott Rawlings flicked a penalty corner high into the net to give Fareham some breathing space at 3-1.

Callum McInally then rounded off the scoring for the visitors with a drag flick from another penalty corner to put the result beyond doubt at 4-1.

Norwich scored a late consolation goal from open play shortly before the end but there was no doubting Fareham’s name would be in the hat for round three.

And they will travel to Oxford Hawks on Sunday, November 13 to fight for a spot in the last eight.