It was all Wight in the end – Infinity shrug off ‘turmoil’ to claim victory on Wessex League debut

Danny Phillips, right, has returned to Infinity after a short spell with Hamble Club. Picture: Paul Paxford.

The club were rocked when boss Mark Dugan left by mutual consent just days before the 2021/22 step 6 campaign began.

But co-owner Jody Hoare and club stalwart Sam Floyd - last season’s captain - oversaw a 2-0 Wessex Division 1 win on the Isle of Wight at East Cowes Vics.

Andy Powell gave them an early lead and ex-Hamble Club striker Harry Osman added a second after the restart.

‘We were in a bit of turmoil,’ reported Hoare.

‘Players dropped out on Friday night and Saturday morning - Ryan Llewellyn phoned at 7.30 in the morning to say a family member wasn’t feeling well - Jamie White is injured, we had to take three reserves, and we had to play players out of position.

‘We played a central midfielder (Josh Oxlade) at centre back, a central midfielder (Callum Parker) at right-back and a winger (Powell) in central midfield.

‘Then our captain Mitch Austin got injured, so we had to put a striker (Max Paddon) into midfield.

‘Max later came off injured as well, so Louis O’Brien, who has only just turned 18, had to come off for his first start for the club.

‘Macualley Smith also played his first game for over a year.’

As for the performance, Hoare said: ‘We weren’t particularly fantastic on the ball.

‘It was very old school Infinity - our togetherness, our spirit and our workrate got us through.’

Hoare had a Monday boost when striker Danny Phillips, a prolific scorer in the Hampshire Premier League in recent seasons with 72 since the start of 2017/18, asked to return to the club.

Phillips had only joined Hamble Club in pre-season and Hoare said: ‘Danny is a massive part of the club - he said he was missing playing for us and we’re glad to have him back.’

Hoare and Floyd will again take the team for this weekend’s trip to Andover New Street and the home game against former HPL rivals Bush Hill - now called Millbrook - next midweek.

‘We’ve advertised for a manager and we’ll leave it open for two weeks,’ revealed the co-owner.

‘If we get a standout candidate, we could appoint within the fortnight but we don’t want to rush into things.’

Infinity’s success at East Cowes stretched their unbeaten league run to 38 matches - their last loss was in the HPL at Bush Hill in April 2019!

White, Infinity’s top scorer in recent years, suffered a knee injury in a friendly against Midhurst and is rated ‘touch and go’ for this weekend.

Matt Doel has followed Dugan to Hythe & Dibden, who are also believed to be keen to take Brandon Collins, Scott Faulkner, Dan Robey, George Kirk and Daniel Bonavia to the club where Infinity are tenants.