Long unbeaten Hampshire Premier League run ‘means nothing’ for Infinity owner ahead of trip to title rivals Paulsgrove

Infinity aim to stretch their unbeaten run to 38 Senior Division games at Paulsgrove on Saturday.

The last time Infinity lost an HPL encounter was at Bush Hill in April 2019. Since then, they have won 28 and drawn nine.

Five of those draws, however, have arrived this season and ensure Infinity - despite not having lost - are lagging behind in the title race.

They trail leaders Bush by five points, with a game in hand, but the biggest danger is undoubtedly Paulsgrove.

Wayne Grant’s side are also protecting an unbeaten record, are just a point behind Infinity and have three games in hand.

That means this weekend’s clash at Marsden Road is ultra crucial; it could be a defining moment in 2020/21 if Infinity's long unbeaten record is ended by Grove.

Hoare is currently in temporary charge of Infinity after Gary Wheatcroft stepped down for personal reasons.

His first competitive match in charge was last weekend’s 2-1 win against Liphook.

‘Going all those games unbeaten sounds nice but it means nothing because of all the draws we’ve had,’ said Hoare.

‘As the club’s owner, I’d prefer to have lost a couple of games and won more of those draws to put us in a better position.

‘We beat Fleetlands 5-1 and Bush Hill 2-1 but we’ve had some draws against the so-called lesser teams.

‘It’s hard to get the lads motivated at times.

‘Being unbeaten is ok, but that doesn’t mean you’re always winning games.’

Indeed it doesn’t, and Infinity have had some surprise results since the season eventually started in early September.

They failed to beat lowly Chamberlayne (1-1), Winchester Castle (2-2) and Clanfield (1-1), and were also held by Stockbridge (1-1) and Locks Heath (0-0).

Due to those results, Hoare admits it will be hard to finish top of the table and claim Infinity’s Holy Grail - the one promotion place available to the Wessex League.

‘In my eyes Paulsgrove are quite rightly the title favourites,’ he remarked.

‘They are good lads there, Wayne’s done a fantastic job of rebuilding.

‘But we absolutely love going there. It’ll be a hostile atmosphere but better to play in front of a hostile atmosphere than no atmosphere at all!

‘Danny Lane’s back, Jake Warlow’s back - Wayne seems to have re-galvanised them.

‘They’ve always had a close-knit side who would die for each other on the pitch.’

Infinity’s leading two scorers were on target in the win against Liphook.

Danny Phillips netted his 17th goal of the campaign with the decider coming from Jamie White in the second half - his 10th goal of 2020/21.