AFC Portchester boss Dave Carter's 'enjoyable' 'El Creekio' derby experience in front of bumper crowd while Fareham manager bemoans defensive injuries after defeat

The Royals were faced with a monumental task of battling back from 2-0 down after headers from Stuart Morgan and Archie Willcox had handed the hosts the advantage inside the opening 40 minutes.

But Rafa Ramos' double - his first Portchester goals since signing for the club from Blackfield & Langley last month - late in the first-half and Steve Ramsey's free-kick on the hour completed a stunning 3-2 fightback victory for Portchester.

Yet Carter conceded the rousing comeback looked a long way off when his men were trailing 2-0, although it turned out to be an 'enjoyable' derby experience in the end in front of a huge crowd of 621 at Cams Alders.

The Royals boss said: ‘It was a fantastic result in the end. Don’t get me wrong, they were good first half, up until the 40th-minute we were poor and didn’t get a hold on the goal.

‘The goals from Rafa gave us the momentum going into the second half and I thought we dominated.

‘It’s a fantastic derby, two close clubs, there were 621 which was a fantastic attendance, it was good fun in the end. It’s what we do football for, for the highs.

‘I was thinking after 40 minutes, ‘we’re going to get murdered here,’ we really hadn’t played well.

‘The further it went in the game, I thought we were fitter than them, Worty (Lee Wort) and Lamin (Jatta) both broke in the second half and I felt they should have done better with their chances.’

But it was a much different feeling for Fareham boss Pete Stiles, who saw three of his starting four defenders forced off through injury.

The Reds were forced into a first-half change with Ethan Jones taken off while centre-half Willcox and full-back Ash Tattersall were substituted after the restart.

Stiles moaned: ‘It was very tough, when you lose three out of your four defenders it’s always going to be tough.

‘They had a lucky deflection for their first goal and we just didn’t get it together and it was two-all at half-time, but for 40 minutes in the first half I thought we were the better side. It’s hard to take.

‘I think losing the defenders flipped it because we looked leaky then. We were comfortable all the time we had our team, but that’s it.’