Late woes for Horndean and Baffins Milton Rovers swing Wessex Premier title race in Hamworthy’s favour

At around 4.40pm on Saturday, in the 84th minute of their game, leaders Horndean had just levelled against second-placed Hamworthy thanks to Connor Duffin’s 30th league and cup goal of the season.

Ten miles or so away on, third-placed Baffins Milton Rovers were leading US Portsmouth 1-0 despite having been reduced to 10 men in the first half.

At that stage, Horndean led Baffins by a point with the Hammers in third place.

But within 60 seconds of Duffin’s leveller, Hamworthy caught Horndean with a sucker punch winner. And US Portsmouth’s injury-time leveller in the Portsea Island derby was another massive boost for the Dorset club.

Now Tim Sills’ Hammers are just a point behind Horndean with three games in hand, while they are a point ahead of Baffins with a game in hand.

Huge matches remain on the fixture list, not least March 19 (Hamworthy v Horndean) and April 2 (Hamworthy v Baffins). And before that, on February 12, it’s Horndean v Baffins.

No doubt there will be more twists and turns, but it is clear Hamworthy are in a great position to win the Wessex League for the first time.

Yes, they are still in the FA Vase - through to the last 16 - and nerves/excitement will increase with every step closer they take to Wembley. But the best Wessex League squads can cope - Wimborne, Winchester City and Sholing all lifted the Vase in the same season they won the Premier Division title as well. Who would bet against Hamworthy doing the same?

Horndean v Hamworthy presented a fascinating contest between attack and defence. In the home corner, the Deans entered the game as the second highest scorers in the 14 divisions of step 5 non-league football in England.

The only side with more goals than their 86 was Sussex outfit Littlehampton (90), and that was only because the latter swamped East Preston 12-1 earlier this month.

In the away corner, Hamworthy had only conceded 15 goals in 23 league games, an average of 0.652 - the sixth best ratio across the 14 step 5 divisions.

As it turned out, it was the Hammers’ well organised defence who won the day in a game where clear chances at either end were hard to come by.

This was the first time the two clubs had met since the Deans had triumphed 3-0 at Five Heads Park in August 2019. Much has changed since, and Horndean skipper Ash Howes was the only player on either side who had also started in the previous meeting.

It was the visitors who created the better openings in the first half - Max Wilcock heading a Jamie Beasley cross wide and centre half Billy Walker nodding straight at Cameron Scott from Hamworthy’s first corner on 36 minutes.

Jake Lovell and Wilcock also shot wide, while at the other end the prolific Duffin - again playing with a face mask to protect the broken nose he suffered against Bashley the previous weekend - and Zack Willett were kept quiet. There were no chances for the pair to add to their 57 league and cup goals this season.

Hammers striker Cameron Munn shot across the face of goal on 53 minutes before Horndean quickly broke to engineer their best chance.

Harry Jackson found himself in the clear but, as Shane Murphy raced out of his goal, shot badly wide. Deans boss Michael Birmingham, in his player’s defence, said there had been an ‘almighty bobble’ as Jackson was about to shoot.

Horndean had a let-off just after the hour mark. After failing to clear a Steve Devlin free-kick, skipper Lee Francis placed a shot against the inside of Deans keeper Cameron Scott’s left-hand post, the ball rebounding virtually along the goalline before being hacked clear.

It was the visitors, though, who opened the scoring in a game which could never be called entertaining but, due to its importance, was always a fascinating watch.

After Horndean had only half cleared a corner, Hammers left-back Chit Clarke was given time to swing over a cross where Walker was unmarked to nod in from a few yards. Birmingham had every right to be furious.

Horndean instantly went on the attack and, for the first time, Murphy was called into action. First, he pawed away a header from sub Jack Lee from a far post corner; secondly, he arched his back to tip away a sliced clearance from Hamworthy right-back Drew Ecott-Young for another corner.

Duffin levelled with six minutes remaining with a great piece of individual skill. After being fouled just outside the Hammers’ 18-yard box, he got up and curled a low shot around the three-man wall and into the bottom corner.

As a result, he became the first player in the Wessex League Premier to reach the 30-goal milestone in 2021/22 (league and cup combined).

Horndean’s joy lasted barely a minute, though; a long clearance from Walker sending Wilcock clean through to net his 13th league goal of the season and clinch a huge victory for his side.

A massive three points completed a stunning eight days for the Hammers. The previous Saturday they had come from 0-2 down to beat Glebe 3-2 and reach the FA Vase fifth round, and in midweek had booked a place in the Dorset Senior Cup final by knocking out two tiers higher Wimborne.

For the Deans, however, it was a second dose of late misery in successive games after they had conceded twice to draw 2-2 at Moneyfields last Tuesday. That was another great result for Hamworthy in what could be the greatest season in the club’s history.

Horndean: Scott, Taw, Miller, Dempsey, Field, Hookey, Howes, Anderson, Duffin, Willett, Jackson. Subs used: Lee, Tierney.

Hamworthy: Murphy, Ecott-Young, Clarke, Walker, Buckler, Devlin, Lovell, Francis, Wilcock, Munn, Beasley. Subs used: Hodge, Lanahan.