Portsea Island pair Baffins Milton Rovers and Moneyfields face relegation candidates in Wessex League finale

There is much to play for as Portsea Island pair Baffins Milton Rovers and Moneyfields enter their final games of the Wessex League campaign on Tuesday.
Baffins striker Tom Vincent, right, scored twice in a superb comeback win at Christchurch. Picture by Martyn WhiteBaffins striker Tom Vincent, right, scored twice in a superb comeback win at Christchurch. Picture by Martyn White
Baffins striker Tom Vincent, right, scored twice in a superb comeback win at Christchurch. Picture by Martyn White

Barring a huge Baffins win at Pagham, Moneys will claim a top five finish if they can avoid defeat at Bournemouth Poppies.

However, a Baffins win coupled with a Moneys loss will see Rovers leap from their current seventh place into fifth spot.

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It’s the hosts who have most to lose, though, on what promises to be a nerve-shredding evening at both the top and the bottom of the Premier Division table.

Pagham simply have to win if their maiden Premier season is not to end with relegation.

If the Sussex club do triumph, they will stay up on goal difference - but only if Moneys can win at Victoria Park on what will be their third trip there this season.

With Alresford long since doomed, the second relegation place is between either Pagham or Poppies.

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Poppies are protecting a proud record of having never been relegated since the Wessex League was formed in 1986.

Baffins enter the game on the back of a stunning 5-4 win at Christchurch at the weekend.

After falling 2-0 down inside six minutes, they trailed 4-2 before staging one of the best comebacks of the Wessex League campaign - capped by a stoppage time winner from Charlie Oakwell.

‘It just shows the togetherness and team spirit that we have,’ Rovers boss Danny Thompson told The News.

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‘We were really poor first half but we changed a few things around and were worthy winners in the end.’

Trailing 4-2 just after the hour mark, Ed Sanders pulled one back and Tom Vincent - with his second of the afternoon in the 87th minute - levelled before Oakwell’s dramatic winner.

Thompson continued: ‘It would be an amazing achievement if we could finish fifth, but even sixth would be really pleasing.

‘It won’t be easy - Pagham will be fighting for their lives. They’ve got to win, which might work in our favour.’

Miles Everett and Arty Kerton both come back into contention for Baffins’ second trip to Pagham in a fortnight - their first was postponed five minutes before kick off due to a waterlogged pitch.