Jack Chandler's free-kick nestles in the back of the Fareham net. Picture by Ken WalkerJack Chandler's free-kick nestles in the back of the Fareham net. Picture by Ken Walker
Jack Chandler's free-kick nestles in the back of the Fareham net. Picture by Ken Walker

Jack Chandler nets free-kick leveller to earn Moneyfields a point from ‘rubbish’ display against Fareham

Jack Chandler conjured up a free-kick leveller to earn Moneyfields a point against Fareham Town at Westleigh Park.

The defender curled an 82nd minute free-kick over the wall to cancel out a first half goal from Jack Breed.

And Moneys boss Glenn Turnbull was happy to take a draw from a performance he condemned as ‘rubbish.’

He added: ‘We weren’t very good. Probably the worst performance since I’ve been at the club.

‘We didn’t look like a team that had played together before, we were very disjointed.

‘Only one or two came out with any credibility. We were a completely different side to the one we’ve looked recently.’

One of the few to impress Turnbull was young Lawrence Cooper, who was handed his first start after a handful of sub outings.

Cooper started off on the left of an attacking three, behind central striker Steve Hutchings, but was later moved to a No 10 role.

It was from a foul on Cooper on the edge of Fareham’s 18-yard box that Chandler struck Moneys’ leveller.

‘I couldn’t really see us carving them open to score,’ said Turnbull. ‘They didn’t really threaten either, it wasn’t the best of games.

‘We had a good chance to win it - Callum Reeves had a header that seemed harder to put over the bar, but that’s what he did.

‘If that had gone in, it would have been very unjust on Fareham.’

As well as Cooper, Turnbull handed a first Moneys start to midfielder Kelly Nwaehi.

The University of Portsmouth student, who recently signed from Portsea Island rivals US Portsmouth, had made his debut off the bench at Hamble.

Ryan Pennery, who had plundered a hat-trick when Moneys won 5-0 at Fareham last October, was absent with an ankle injury and fellow striker Callum Laycock (groin injury) was also absent.

The latter - Moneys’ top scorer with 29 league and cup goals this term - could well feature in Tuesday’s trip to Bournemouth Poppies.

It will be Moneys’ third trip to Victoria Park this season, after previously losing 5-0 there in the Hampshire Senior Cup and winning 5-0 - Laycock scoring three of them - in a league encounter that counted as Moneys’ ‘home’ fixture.

Fareham host Shaftesbury on Tuesday and travel to Laverstock & Ford three days later as they cram their final six league games into a 12-day period.