Catling calling on Royals to use away wins as springboard for pre-Christmas surge

The Royals came away from the ' El Creekio' encounter at Cams Alders with a 3-1 win - their second success on the road in four days after a 2-0 triumph at lowly Amesbury.

Catlin is eyeing a third successive Wessex Premier victory for his side with Hamworthy visiting the Crest Finance stadium this weekend (3pm).

'Winning games has started to see confidence returning to the squad,' said Catlin.

'The win at Fareham was a massive one for us because they were on a good unbeaten run.

'When we are a full strength and firing on all cylinders we are a very tough team to beat.

'After two away wins it will be nice to get back to winning in front of our own fans.

'It has been a little while since we have achieved that.

'I like to think that we are getting over our blip and want to stretch our winning run so as to keep the pressure on leaders Alresford.'

Portchester are currently eight points adrift of the table-toppers, but do have a game in hand - next Tuesday’s home match against Tadley.

One player helping the Royals in their improvement is youngster Patrick Hnath.

The 17-year-old is making a big impact since being introduced to the team.

He won a penalty on his first Wessex start at Amesbury and created the first goal at Fareham with a superb run by the left-hand goalline.

Catlin is delighted with his progress.

'Patrick has come out of the youth team and there is something about him,' he said.

'There is a great maturity about his game.'

Prior to making his Wessex debut, Hnath had scored in a Portsmouth Senior Cup start against Denmead earlier this month.

Ollie Searle and Jason Parish could be doubts this weekend after picking up hamstring and ankle injuries which forced them off at Fareham.