Fareham Town return to action at Blackfield & Langley eager to put right forgettable AFC Stoneham fixture

Pete Stiles' men went down 6-1 at AFC Stoneham in the Wessex League Premier Division and had both Archie Willcox and Charlie Cooper dismissed in the first half on a day to forget earlier this month.

The Reds will have had 11 days to stew on that loss by the time they travel to Blackfield and return to competitive action tomorrow.

Boss Stiles wants to see Fareham get back to winning ways in the league after what he felt was just a 'blip' at Stoneham last time out.

Stiles said: ‘It’s going to be difficult, Blackfield & Langley are a decent outfit, it’s away. I know there’s loads of roadworks, there’s congestion getting there, so all the things you don’t want but we’ve just got to go there and get the job done. Our last result wasn’t what we wanted - I do think it was a bit of a blip - what with having two sent-off in the first half, horrible day, but we’ve just got to forget about that.

‘We need to get back and get on it, go and get three points there (at Blackfield) and getting another three points Saturday sets us up because in a couple of weeks’ time we’ve got Jersey Bulls, so we need to get our points on the board in the league and get back to winning ways because there are all sorts of silly results going on all the time at the moment.’

But Fareham will have to do without suspended pair Willcox and Cooper at Blackfield.

Defender Willcox serves a one-match back after picking up two first half yellow cards at Stoneham, while Cooper is set to be missing for three matches after the Reds’ appeal against his dismissal was rejected by the FA.

Brothers Calum and Josh Benfield are sidelined through injury, as is defender Ash Tattersall, although Mackenzie Hill is set to make a return from a damaged collarbone and new signing Bailey Newbury will go straight into the squad at Blackfield.

Stiles added: ‘Unfortunately, we’ve got a lot of players out. We’ve got two suspended after getting sent-off in that last game (at AFC Stoneham). Archie Willcox serves a one-match ban and Charlie Cooper, who we did appeal against it (his red card) – the FA looked at the video and said it was still a sending off.

‘We got them two out, we’ve got both the Benfields (Josh and Calum) out injured, Ash Tattersall is out injured so we’ve got at least five out.

‘But we have got MacKenzie Hill back and new signing Bailey Newbury from Petersfield will be in the squad as well.

‘It’s a big loss not having Charlie or Archie. They’re two players who are always on the team sheet. We’ve just got to get on with it and it’s an opportunity for others.’