‘Very frustrating’ draw for Moneyfields boss Lee Mould in clash of the Hampshire Premier League’s top two against leaders Denmead

Moneys would have returned to the top of the table had they ended leaders Denmead’s 12-game unbeaten Senior Division run - during which they had only dropped two points.

But in the end Mould’s side required a 95th minute leveller from Dan Penfold to snatch a draw at Dover Road and prevent Denmead from moving four points clear, albeit it having played a game more.

Mould was unhappy with his side’s slow start and with their ‘game management’ after allowing Denmead to hit back from 1-2 down to take the lead.

‘It was very frustrating from my point of view,’ he remarked. ‘We didn’t play for sustained periods. We were very patchy in our play. I asked for a fast start but we didn’t come out of the changing room.

‘The second half of the first half was all us and we deserved our equaliser. Then at the start of the second half I thought there was only going to be one winner.

‘But we started defending too deep, rather than saying ‘let’s finish the job’. There were big gaps between the midfield and defence - that’s a collective thing. We could have gone more direct to get the territory and try to squeeze the life out of the game, but instead our midfield was left exposed.

‘Our game management was poor when we were 2-1 up. It was a fair result but I wasn’t happy with our performance. Sometimes when you get a late equaliser it can feel like a win, but that wasn’t the case here - our changing room was low after the game. We knew we had more in our locker.’

With Moneyfields’ Wessex League game at Alresford rained off, Mould had the chance to field a selection of first team fringe players who need minutes. But the only change he made was to bring in Josh Bailey up front alongside Dan Penfold.

Bailey grabbed Moneys’ first two goals after Owen Milne’s free-kick from around 10 yards in from the left-hand touchline had sailed over keeper Sam Richards and into the far corner after just two minutes.

Mould said Moneys’ poor start was down to having seen three HPL matches postponed in a row - they had not played since October 9.

The last of those, against Colden Common last Wednesday, was in the wake of defender Stanlie Hopkins being seriously injured two days earlier in an incident in a Cosham pub car park.

Moneyfields are back in HPL action at home to Fleetlands on Wednesday and Mould will definitely have a few more fringe first team squad players in action.