'We've got good following, good support and we really let them down' - boss Pete Stiles wants Fareham Town players to put smiles on fans' faces with season-ending flourish

Stiles admitted his squad 'let down their supporters' after being dumped out of the Portsmouth Senior Cup at the quarter-final stage in midweek.

The Reds lost on penalties to two-divisions below Hampshire Premier League outfit Locks Heath at Cams Alders to compound a 'bad, bad week'.

Fareham, who let a two-goal lead slip to draw 2-2 in their Wessex League Premier trip to Bournemouth last weekend, find themselves down in 12th spot in the table and Stiles conceded his troops have 'underachieved' so far this season.

But the Reds boss is targeting a positive result at Alton on Saturday to spark a charge up the standings with 16 league games left to play.

Stiles assessed: ‘I know I’ve got good players there and we’ve just totally underachieved (this season).

‘I think that’s certainly not helped (injuries this season), but we’re just not doing it at the moment, we’ve got to be better.

‘There are players who are a lot better than what they showed (against Locks Heath), we’ve just got to get better because we’ve got a good following, good support and we really let them down (against Locks Heath).

‘We’ve got a difficult one at Alton on a 3G on Saturday which is really going to be a difficult game, but these are games we’ve got to go and get something now.

‘We’ve had the disappointment of the draw at Bournemouth and to go out of the cup like we did - it’s just a bad, bad week for us.

‘I put the 11 and the 16 (match-day squad) out there so I’ve got to burden that responsibility, but I’ve got to find out why they’re not performing.

‘I’m looking at players and thinking, ‘you’re much better than that,’ but they’re just not doing it.’

Despite being knocked out of the Portsmouth Senior Cup, Fareham still have a Wessex League Cup semi-final against arch-rivals AFC Portchester to look forward to in March.