Wessex campaign under way
The We Heat South stadium hosted Fareham Town as The Cherries began their campaign in the Wessex Premier League.
It didn’t take long for the visitors to score what was ultimately the decisive goal, within two minutes, as a free kick was headed powerfully home by the Creeksiders centre back. Despite this early setback, the hosts showed great character and gradually adjusted to the pace of the game and apart from a great save from Theo Crane in the home goal started to dominate possession and carve out some half chances. Tom Budden As a Fareham player was sin-binned, The Cherries grew in stature and started to believe they could press home the numerical advantage, however having come close, testing the Fareham keeper, they went into the break behind. The second half started well for The Cherries as they dominated possession and laid seige to the Fareham goal, a few long range efforts fizzed high, two penalty shouts were waved away by the officials and some last ditch defending saw efforts scooped off the goal-line, ensuring the visitors defence remained intact, with Fareham managing to hold on to three points. Disappointment for The Cherries, but after a timid start, they showed qualities that would suggest they should be happy that they will be competitive in the league this season.
Some words from Rob from The Wessex Way
The start of every season brings a fresh sense of excitement and new grounds to visit. I had been told that The We Heat South Stadium was a really special ground. It was also the only ground in the Wessex Premier Division that I hadn’t previously visited in the five seasons of this project. I got to the ground nice and early and it was such a great day for a season opener and I was thinking the crowd may be a couple of hundred so to see 243 fans in attendance was really impressive. On the pitch it was hard to know what to expect. The early Fareham goal was probably exactly what the game didn’t need from a neutral’s perspective. Full credit to the Cherries though, as the game went on the players grew into it. Anyone expecting a big score, especially after the early goal, was proved wrong and most neutrals I spoke to felt a draw would have been a fair result. I came away feeling like it had been a really great way to spend the first Saturday of the season, and loved sharing in some of the excitment everyone has for the return of The FA Cup after so many years. What a story! And you will surely make many more new stories as the season goes on. Good luck and enjoy it.
