Fareham and Oxford shared the points at Henry Cort before Christmas in the final round of league games before the mid-season break. It was a typically tight game between the sides. Oxford was the only team to beat us in our 2022/23 promotion campaign and although we won the return contest on the final day of that season the other three matches between the sides have all been drawn.

The first scoring chance fell to the home side in the 2nd minute when a lob from Lois Haigh came down on the top of the crossbar and bounced over but three minutes later Fareham took the lead from a penalty corner when a shot from Tara Lemon was turned in by AMY HILL.

It took five minutes for Oxford to respond from their first penalty corner in the 10th minute. The ball was played short to captain Katie Cox and her shot was guided into the goal by a LIZZIE ROBBINS deflection.

That was to prove the only goal threat of the half from the visitors as the hosts enjoyed most of the play. Amy Hill was set up with a chance in the 19th minute and, although she was fouled, an advantage was played as the ball fell to Zoe Stride who shot wide. Amy had another half chance from close range two minutes later after a passs into the ‘D’ from Jenny Sinclair.

The final opportunity of the half for the home side came in the 27th minute when Sara Johns combined with Lois Haigh but the final cross was just out of the reach of Izzy Austin.

Despite having the better of the first half, Fareham found themselves level at the break but with plenty of encouragement that they could find a winner in the second half. Oxford, in contrast, had shown little up to this point but they stepped up their game after the break and looked much more like the team we had been expecting.

It was the visitors who had the first chance four minutes into the second half when Sophia Barclay made a vital double save from Kate Cudbertson after a misplaced pass had set up the opportunity.

Fareham responded well and continued to create opportunities but the finishing wasn’t quite good enough. Gracie Coleman had a run and shot leading to a penalty corner and shortly afterwards Alicia Salter ran into the area and shot, forcing Georgina Haines-Woodhouse in the visitor’s goal to make a save in the 48th minute.

Another long run by Gracie Coleman in the 51st minute finished with a reverse shot across the keeper and just wide of the far post.

Oxford hit back after another loss of possession in the home defence two minutes later led to a shot from just inside the area but Sophia Barclay was quickly off her line to deflect the effort just wide off her pads.

With time running out both sides looked for the deciding goal. With two minutes remaining Oxford came close again but Sophia was alert to the danger with a well-timed slide which cleared the danger. The last Fareham chance came in the final minute after an Izzy Austin run down the left side resulted in a cross which found a team mate in the middle but the resulting shot was wide.

Given the much improved performance of the visitors in the second half, the final score of 1-1 was a fair result although there was disappointment in the Fareham camp that they hadn’t been able to take full advantage of their own opportunities. Nevertheless we remain top of the table after 11 games. Our closest pursuers, Reading 3s lost their match 4-0 and trail by five points. However, some fixtures were lost to the weather and if Basingstoke win their re-arranged match they could cut the margin to three points.

Fareham’s final action of 2024 was the South Central Indoor Tournament which was held, the following day in Southampton. It usually takes a couple of games to settle into these tournaments, not having played indoors in the last twelve months, and we duly lost our opening group match 3-0 against Army but it could have been closer as we had a penalty stroke saved. Our other two group games were close contests. We drew 0-0 with Oxford Hawks and finished off with a 2-2 draw with Winchester. The latter match was one where we were very much the better side but we fell behind after failing to convert another penalty stroke. We hit back well in the second half and goals from JENNY SINCLAIR and SAM POWELL gave us the lead before a late equalizer forced us to share the points.

Our preliminary performances set up a quarter final with the eventual winners of the tournament – Trojans. It was our best match of the day and we matched them all the way. In fact we looked the better side until two quick second half goals, 23 seconds apart, decided the contest 2-0 in Trojans favour. We definitely gave them a fright though and we were arguably their toughest opponents on the day other than Marlow who finished as runners-up … oh and we missed another penalty stroke !

Weather permitting, the outdoor league programme will resume this Saturday (11th) when we travel to Wycombe (13.30).