Barnes: Fareham are making good progress

The team have been on a poor run of results in National League conference west.

But the performance director was really upbeat with some excellent individual displays and solid defending on Sunday.

He said: ‘Although we are disappointed with the result there were real signs of improvement.

‘Will Raymond made his league debut, having celebrated his 18th birthday during the week, and did really well.

‘The Rawlings brothers, Jamie, Danny and Scott, all played well and George Harris was man of the match.

‘Defensively we looked really good and we just need to start converting Some of our chances.

‘It could well be a season of two halves as I am very encouraged with the strides we are making.’

Fareham matched Birmingham for long periods of the game with both sides having opportunities in the first half to take the lead.

The pattern of play continued into the second half but on 56 minutes Steve Davison opened the scoring.

Barnes said: ‘The ball fell kindly to their player after the first save.

‘It was a shame because we had a great chance to score just before.’

Fareham continued to press to level the scores.

But they failed to create any clear chances.

On 65 minutes the game was killed off when Birmingham produced a string of passes down their left flanks .

And Will Selfe was able to slot home the cross from close range to kill the game off and take the three points.

Fareham continued to press to the very end but the score remained 2-0.

Fareham ladies earned three points with a 2-0 victory against Eastbourne at Henry Cort on Saturday in South Clubs’ Women’s League division three B.

Fareham dominated the early stages but were unable to break through.

It was the same story until the 54th minute when Rebecca Reavell broke the deadlock.

She finished of an excellent passing move down the left with a composed finish at the far post.

The three points were sealed with 10 minutes to go when Bex Close got a deflection on a Katt Mayer shot to beat the Eastbourne keeper.

Coach Steve Lemon said: ‘It was a game we were in control of from start to finish, however I was concerned we might not break them down.

‘But once we got the first one you could see the girls growing in confidence and the second was inevitable.

‘Hopefully we can build on this performance next week against local rivals Southampton and begin to climb up the table.’