Derby double excites eager Fareham

The Reds travel to face Horndean at Five Heads Park on Tuesday night and then welcome Baffins Milton Rovers to Cams Alders on Saturday.

Manager Pete Stiles is keen to see both games beat the weather as the fixtures start to pile up.

‘Time is running out and soon we could find ourselves playing Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday,’ he said.

‘The problems with our pitch are well documented.

‘You only have to put a water bottle on it and it is waterlogged!

‘If the game at Horndean can’t be played on Tuesday it might be rolled over to the following night.

‘That is how keen the league is to see games played.

‘Fortunately we have pretty much a clean bill of health at the moment.

‘We are going to need all our players in the busy end to the season.’

Stiles is boosted by the return of striker Scott Hamilton.

The Reds have missed his goals over the past month.

Fellow striker Simon Woods is back in training after Achilles trouble at the start of the season.

Josh Holmes, however, will serve a one-game suspension on Tuesday.

Stiles is hoping his team can exact revenge on Horndean for the 2-1 home defeat on the opening day.

‘Five Heads Park is never an easy place to go and get a result,’ he added.

‘Both teams know each other very well, so it should be an interesting game.

‘It would be good to get one over Michael Birmingham!’

Revenge will also be on the agenda against Baffins Milton Rovers.

Fareham can claim a cup win against Baffins but do not want to concede a league double.

‘We want to keep winning games and climb as high up the table as we can,’ said Stiles.

‘I believe we are starting to build something at the club but it is going to take time.

‘At the moment we are enjoying life, team spirit is good and everything is very positive.’