Former Southampton prospect gets on the scoresheet but Fareham Town fall to last-day loss at 10-man Wessex Premier champions Hamworthy

Former Southampton prospect Siph Mdlalose bagged his first Fareham Town goal - but that was not enough to prevent his side from suffering a last-day 2-1 defeat at 10-man Wessex Premier champions Hamworthy.
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The South African attacker, 23, who departed Southampton in the summer of 2019, came off the bench to strike in what was his fifth appearance for Pete Stiles' side.

At that stage, Fareham had a little more than 20 minutes to try to salvage something from the game, although they were unable to find an equaliser.

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Mdlalose, who is back in the game following Achilles surgery, has been training with the club for around six weeks and now has his first goal.

But on a day of frustration for the Reds, Charlie Cooper had a first-half penalty saved by Hamworthy stopper Shane Murphy while Josh Benfield saw his 25th-minute strike ruled out for an earlier foul.

Stiles reflected: ‘We were a bit sloppy for their first goal then it was all us. They had a player sent-off because of the penalty incident.

‘It was all us really but the problem was they just sat in and defended the 1-0 (lead). Their record shows they're good at defending.

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‘We were unlucky yesterday. We missed a penalty and had a perfectly good goal disallowed. To be fair, it was a good save (from Charlie Cooper's penalty) - their keeper had a blinder.

Fareham Town's Charlie Cooper had a first-half penalty saved in the final-day defeat at 10-man league champions Hamworthy Picture: Allan Hutchings (030421-073)Fareham Town's Charlie Cooper had a first-half penalty saved in the final-day defeat at 10-man league champions Hamworthy Picture: Allan Hutchings (030421-073)
Fareham Town's Charlie Cooper had a first-half penalty saved in the final-day defeat at 10-man league champions Hamworthy Picture: Allan Hutchings (030421-073)

‘We certainly gave it a good go, anyone watching it would have seen we had all the chances, it was all down to us, their keeper made some terrific saves. In some ways I wish they had 11 (players) because they'd have come out a bit more.’

Fareham provided the league champions with a guard of honour as they took to the field before an action-packed afternoon of entertainment.

Lee Francis fired home on 11 minutes after the Reds had failed to clear a corner then Cooper saw his penalty saved by Murphy 14 minutes later - with the Hammers reduced to 10-men for the foul which led the the spot-kick being awarded.

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It looked as though it wasn't going to be Fareham's day as Benfield had a goal ruled out for an earlier infringement minutes later and Cam Munn dispatched a penalty awarded to the hosts with just under 20 minutes left.

There was some hope for the Reds with Mdlalose firing his first goal for the club a minute later but the resolute Hammers held on for a final-day victory.

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