Record run ‘means nothing’ says Jody
Shock draws hit Infinity ahead of season suspension
Owner Jody Hoare insists Infinity’s record-breaking Hampshire Premier League run ‘means nothing’ as the season is paused until the new year.
Infinity were aiming to stretch their unbeaten run to 38 Senior Division games at Paulsgrove tomorrow.
But due to parts of the county being moved into tier 3 for at least a fortnight, HPL officials have called off the rest of the games scheduled for 2020 and the first Saturday of January.
The situation will be reviewed on Monday,
January 2.
HPL secretary Steve Smith told clubs via email: ‘Regretfully, in light of the Government’s announcement placing Portsmouth, Havant and Gosport under Tier 3 restrictions, the League Committee have unanimously decided to suspend the League with immediate effect.
‘A review of the situation will take place on Monday,4th January 2021, with all clubs being updated immediately following the meeting.
‘Can I respectfully request that all teams scheduled to have been at home during the suspension period, please contact the match official informing them of the postponement.’
Paulsgrove v Infinity had promised to be a cracking encounter.
The last time Infinity lost an HPL encounter was at Bush Hill in April 2019. Since then, they have won 28 and drawn nine.
Five of those draws, however, have arrived this season and ensure Infinity - despite not having lost - are lagging behind in the title race.
They trail leaders Bush by five points, with a game in hand, but the biggest danger is undoubtedly Paulsgrove.
Wayne Grant’s side are also protecting an unbeaten record, are just a point behind Infinity and have three games in hand.
Hoare is currently in temporary charge of Infinity after Gary Wheatcroft stepped down for personal reasons.
His first competitive match in charge was last weekend’s 2-1 win against Liphook.
‘Going all those games unbeaten sounds nice but it means nothing because of all the draws we’ve had,’ said Hoare.
‘As the club’s owner, I’d prefer to have lost a couple of games and won more of those draws to put us in a better position.
‘We beat Fleetlands 5-1 and Bush Hill 2-1 but we’ve had some draws against the so-called lesser teams.
‘It’s hard to get the lads motivated at times.
‘Being unbeaten is ok, but that doesn’t mean you’re always winning games.’
Indeed it doesn’t, and Infinity have had some surprise results since the season eventually started in early September.
They failed to beat lowly Chamberlayne (1-1), Winchester Castle (2-2) and Clanfield (1-1), and were also held by Stockbridge (1-1) and Locks Heath (0-0).
‘In my eyes Paulsgrove are quite rightly the title favourites,’ he remarked.
‘They are good lads there, Wayne’s done a fantastic job of rebuilding.
‘But we absolutely love going there. It’ll be a hostile atmosphere but better to play in front of a hostile atmosphere than no atmosphere at all!’
That hostile atmosphere will now have to wait ...