Fareham Town romp to second seven-goal Wessex League thrashing of Cowes Sports in 2022

Last April, Josh Benfield netted twice as the Creeksiders romped to a 7-0 Premier Division win at Cams Alders.

Yesterday, Benfield struck twice more inside the opening 23 minutes as Fareham stormed to a 7-2 victory at the same ground.

It was a fourth successive win, but the first in the league after victories (all with clean sheets) in the Hampshire Senior Cup, FA Vase and Wessex League Cup.

Boss Graham Rix missed the goal-fest against Cowes as he was serving a one-game stadium ban imposed for a pre-season red card against Gosport Borough.

In his place, assistants Gary Austin and Matt Powell oversaw second-half goals from Connor Underhill (2), Ethan Jones, Ethan Fox and Dan Bennett - the last two netting after coming on as a sub.

Austin is enjoying his new role at the club after ‘retiring’ as a player at the end of last season (though he still brought himself on for the last few minutes against Cowes!)

‘For me, it’s brilliant to be learning from someone like Graham,’ he told The News.

‘He’s someone who demands a lot of professionalism and respect, and he’s getting it - the players are learning a lot from him as well.

‘Pete Stiles (former manager) is still here, he’s still the first person at the club on matchdays and the last to leave.

‘I’m loving it, we’ve got a nice little team building. I’m excited as to what the future holds.’

Fareham were without Callum Benfield and Casey Bartlett-Scott, both ruled out with Covid, against Cowes.

They could come back into contention for Wednesday’s league trip to US Portsmouth. After that, Fareham visit Horndean next Saturday.

‘We should be 100 per cent in the league,’ said Austin. ‘We lost at Brockenhurst when they only had 10 men for a large part of the game. We were the better team.

‘If we can get something at US Portsmouth we can go to Horndean with a lot of confidence.’

US Portsmouth drew 0-0 with Brockenhurst in their first Victory Stadium match of 2022/23 yesterday.