Fleetlands aiming to put ‘horrible’ Wessex League run-in behind them – and reach Portsmouth Senior Cup final

Fleetlands had to cram almost a quarter of their Wessex League Division 1 fixtures into a 22-day period.

Dan Greenwood’s men won two, drew two and lost five of their nine games to finish eighth.

That was a highly respectable position given it was the Coptermen’s first season at step 6 following promotion from the Hampshire Premier League.

But Fleetlands’ season isn’t over yet - they travel the very short distance to Cams Alders on Tuesday evening to face higher tier Fareham for a place in the Portsmouth Senior Cup final.

The winners face either Wessex Premier champions Horndean or AFC Portchester, who meet on the same night at Five Heads Park.

Like Fleetlands, Fareham also had a busy finale, shoehorning their final eight Wessex Premier games into a 21-day period.

Graham Rix’s Creeksiders finished ninth after losing their final three games, culminating in a 3-0 home loss to Blackfield last Monday. The following evening, the curtain was pulled down on Fleetlands’ league campaign with a 2-1 defeat at Millbrook.

‘It was horrible, not good,’ said Fleetlands boss Dan Greenwood when asked to sum up the last few ultra-busy weeks.

‘It was difficult to get up for games, it was hard to do any prep - and we played five of the top six, so it was tough.

‘We rotated the squad, we used a couple of the reserves and under-18s like Oliver Perry, Taylor Thompson and goalkeeper Adam Lever all played.’

Greenwood was delighted with his club’s finish, saying: ‘Top 10 in our first season, we’d have taken that last summer.

‘First and foremost, we just wanted to stay up and I think we’ve done that very well.

‘On our day, we’ve shown we’re a match for anyone in the league.’

Fleetlands took four points off eventual play-off winners Petersfield and defeated another play-off club, Hamworthy Recreation.

After losing their opening home game 1-0 to Totton & Eling, the Coptermen rattled off 11 straight wins.

They didn’t lose again at Power Monkey Park until eventual champions Andover New Street scored twice in the last 17 minutes to win 2-0 in early April.

After that, the hectic schedule caught up with them, with home losses to play-off pair New Milton and Newport as well as Fawley.

Previewing the trip to Fareham, Greenwood said: ‘It’s going to be tough as they’re a division above us.

‘But we’ll take the optimism from the fact we’ve beaten (Fareham’s Premier rivals) Baffins and Blackfield & Langley this season.’

Both those wins were on penalties - Baffins in the Portsmouth Senior Cup (after ex-Baffins player Callum Dart had netted a stoppage time equaliser) and Blackfield in the Wessex League Cup.

Fleetlands have a full-strength squad to choose from on Tuesday as they bid to knock a second Fareham side out of the competition in as many rounds.

The Coptermen defeated Fareham’s under-23s 5-0 at Powder Monkey Park to reach the semi-finals.