AFC Portchester close in on equalling club record after Portland stalemate - but talisman Lee Wort fails to deliver from the spot

AFC Portchester edged ever closer to another mighty impressive shut-out milestone after their Wessex League Premier Division stalemate at Portland.
Rafael Ramos made his AFC Portchester debut in the Portland stalemate. Picture: Daniel HaswellRafael Ramos made his AFC Portchester debut in the Portland stalemate. Picture: Daniel Haswell
Rafael Ramos made his AFC Portchester debut in the Portland stalemate. Picture: Daniel Haswell

But boss Dave Carter was slightly frustrated his side failed to come away with all three points following leading scorer Lee Wort's late penalty miss.

The Royals continued their recent resurgence with a fifth consecutive clean sheet on the spin.

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In fact, Portchester, who are now unbeaten in six games across all competitions, have now gone an incredible 499 minutes since conceding in their 1-1 home draw with Shaftesbury last month.

AFC Portchester striker Lamin Jatta in pursuit of the ball against Portland. Picture: Daniel HaswellAFC Portchester striker Lamin Jatta in pursuit of the ball against Portland. Picture: Daniel Haswell
AFC Portchester striker Lamin Jatta in pursuit of the ball against Portland. Picture: Daniel Haswell

Carter's side now need to shut Hamble out in their next fixture to equal a club record of sixth successive clean sheets which they achieved in the 2013-14 season.

And the Royals boss has been delighted to see his backline cut out the 'mistakes' they were making earlier in the season in recent weeks.

Carter said: ‘It’s five games on the bounce without conceding. We were short yesterday as well, we were down to the bare bones, Sam Pearce was suspended, Rambo (Steve Ramsey) was off with Covid and George Barker was in New York. We literally had Zak Sharp and Archie Greenough on the bench so we were short.

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‘The mistakes have stopped, we’ve stopped conceding goals, unfortunately it was a bit of stalemate at the other end and we didn’t take our chances to win the game.

‘It’s small steps, progress, we move on now and a break now until Hamble at home after Christmas.’

Portchester, who handed a debut to Rafael Ramos following his arrival from league rivals Blackfield & Langley, had to weather somewhat of a Portland storm in the first half, with the wind against them in the first 45 minutes.

However, the Royals were on top after the restart with Jatta wasting a glorious chance after being sent through.

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Portchester were then handed a pre-Christmas gift - or at least they thought - when Ryan McKechnie handled on the line with a penalty awarded five minutes from the end.

Up stepped the Royals' 27-goal leading scorer Wort, only for Mike Edgar to save his penalty and for the ball to agonisingly spin wide of goal following his stop as the visitors had to settle for a point.

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