Fleetlands boss 'excited’ about Hampshire Premier League trip to face a team who have just won 12-0

He knows a visit to Hampshire Premier League heavyweights Bush Hill is ‘the hardest game at any point of any season.’

After all, Bush have won an astonishing 86 of their last 109 Senior Division games stretching back to the start of 2016/17.

Their latest success was Tuesday’s 12-0 battering of Chamberlayne, helped by a double hat-trick from striker Mark Barker.

Bush have only lost 10 of those 109 games, with the last coming almost a year ago - on September 7, 2019.

That’s the bad news for Fleetlands. The good news is they were the last team to beat Bush, a Matt Andrews brace giving them a shock 2-0 away win and ending the home side’s run of scoring in 45 successive league fixtures.

‘I’m not phased by having to go there with them having just win 12-0, I’m excited by it,’ said Bessey.

‘It’s going to be tough - how do you stop them and how do you stop Sparky (Barker)? They’ve also got one of the best creative midfielders in the league in Callum Drake, so we’ve got to stop him as well.

‘But we matched their shape last season. We won’t be so attacking, we’ll look to him them on the counter.

‘What did they learn from winning their first match 12-0? We learnt a lot from our game.’

Fleetlands were 0-2 and 2-3 down to new-look Locks Heath but stormed back to win 4-3 at Lederle Lane on Tuesday.

Bessey described the encounter as ‘an eye opener’ and admits he could well change his system at Bush.

Fleetlands’ three-man central defensive unit were ‘left exposed’ by Locks and it was only after the fit-again Aiden Smallbones had replaced the injured Jim Duffin just before half-time that the hosts looked comfortable at the back.

‘We always thought we could concede,’ said Bessey. ‘But it went drastically wrong, we didn’t know what had hit us.

‘If Locks carry on playing like that they’re going to finisher higher than I thought.

‘Thankfully we know we’ve got goals in our locker, and we showed we’ve got character and fight in us.

‘We’re going to need to show that at Bush Hill as that is a formidable place to go and get a result.

‘But I’m glad I’m going there now rather than towards the end of the season.

‘All the pressure is on Bush Hill - they’re the favourites, they’re at home, they finished above us last season, they’ve just won 12-0.’

Star man Barker failed to score in his last game against Fleetlands 12 months ago. But that was a rare blank for a man who, following his midweek double hat-trick, has plundered 113 goals in only 57 league and cup starts, plus five sub appearances, since the start of the 2017/18 season.

No fewer than 62 of those goals came in 32 appearances in 2018/19 - including seven goals in one game against Hayling - while last season he netted 30 times in only 21 outings, including five hat-tricks.

Bessey awarded his man-of-the-match award to keeper Matt Shortt on Tuesday.

The former Petersfield Town Wessex League title-winner, making his competitive debut for the club, produced a couple of fine first half saves to keep his side in contention.

If Fleetlands don’t improve defensively this weekend, he could well be even busier in his second outing than he was in his first ...