Denmead have ‘no fear’ ahead of the biggest game in their history against Southern Leaguers Moneyfields

Two seasons ago the team were playing in the Meon Valley Sunday League.

Now they are preparing to go head to head with Southern League club Moneyfields in the Portsmouth Senior Cup quarter-final at Front Lawn on Tuesday (8pm).

Last November Denmead caused a major shock when they knocked out three divisions higher AFC Portchester on penalties.

Due to bad weather and the pandemic, they have had to wait 10 months to play their next game in the tournament.

Moneys have not played a competitive game since March, but Denmead have made a fine start to their second Hampshire Premier League Division 1 campaign.

They followed up a 3-0 victory over Harvest Home by romping to a 7-1 success at another new club, Clarendon, at the weekend.

They were 3-0 up inside nine minutes through a Lewis Crook double and the first of Kieran Hammond’s hat-trick.

Hammond had completed his treble by the 34th minute with Seniya Boopa and Danny Lucas completing Denmead’s second biggest ever HPL win - they caned Michelmersh & Timsbury 7-0 last January - late on.

Moneyfields, from four divisions higher in the non-league pyramid, will obviously pose a sterner test than Clarendon.

But Denmead coach Gavin Hunter said: ‘We’re looking forward to hopefully giving a good account of ourselves.

‘There’s no fear from our side of things. There’s no pressure on us, we’ll just tell the players to enjoy it, to enjoy the occasion.’

Denmead moved up to Saturday football ahead of last season after winning the Meon Valley Sunday League’s top flight two years running.

They were top of the HPL second tier when life went into lockdown, and ended up runners-up to Moneyfields Reserves on a points-per-game basis.

They did not lose a league game after October 12, winning nine of their last 10 matches.

‘It’s been absolutely superb,’ said Hunter. ‘We’ve enjoyed every aspect of the Hampshire League, we’ve enjoyed every second.

‘Driving back on Saturday the players were saying they wished they’d moved up to Saturday football earlier.

‘But that was their decision. The club wanted to apply for the Hampshire League a year earlier than we did but the players opted against it.’

Should they pull off a seismic shock, Denmead will face Fareham Town in the semi-finals with the winners playing Baffins Milton or Horndean.

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Lamin Jatta fired a hat-trick as Moneyfields Reserves opened their HPL season with a 4-1 home win over new club Silchester.

Jatta spent most of last season on the fringes of the first team, and only made one appearance for the reserves.

Dan Penfold - last season’s 28-goal top scorer for the second team - was also on target.

Moneys are home again on Tuesday, to Broughton.