Hampshire Premier League club Clanfield bring in defensive reinforcements ahead of move to Westleigh Park

The club have suffered with central defensive injuries so far, with skipper Billy Ashmore, Jon Byerley, Chris Waterson and Shaun Tidy all spending time on the sidelines.

Youngster Connor Fairbairn has been drafted in on loan from Fleet Town and made his debut in the 4-0 weekend loss at Bush Hill.

Clanfield have also brought in defender Mohammed Zahid Alam on a dual signing from US Portsmouth for next weekend’s trip to Winchester Castle.

A HPL Cup tie at AFC Petersfield is then followed by the club’s first home game of their groundsharing deal with Hawks - a clash with Paulsgrove on October 17.

Field were due to host Bush at Peel Park, but the game was switched to Test Park due to the recent vandalism caused by travellers.

The visitors frustrated Bush for over an hour in Southampton before Nathan Gray lashed in a shot from outside the area.

‘We had frustrated them well,’ said Blakely. ‘But we couldn’t do anything about the first goal. They kicked on from that, it gave them confidence and hit our confidence.’

Charlie Willett, Ben Baddams and Sean Haines added further Bush goals in the last 16 minutes.

One positive for Clanfield was a sub outing for defender Si Ashing, his first for over 10 months due to injury.