Royals closing in on a new record
... Portchester keep a fifth clean sheet in succession
AFC Portchester edged ever closer to another mighty impressive shut-out milestone after their Wessex League Premier Division stalemate at Portland.
But boss Dave Carter was slightly frustrated his side failed to come away with all three points following leading scorer Lee Wort's late penalty miss.
The Royals continued their recent resurgence with a fifth consecutive clean sheet at Grove Corner.
In fact, Portchester, now unbeaten in six games across all competitions, have gone an incredible 499 minutes since Steve Mowthorpe conceded in their 1-1 home draw with Shaftesbury last month.
Carter's side now need to shut Hamble out in their next fixture on December 27 to equal a club record of sixth successive clean sheets which they achieved in the 2013-14 season.
If they were to do that, a new record will be up for grabs when they travel to ‘El Creekio’ rivals Fareham Town on January 3.
Carter has been delighted to see his backline cut out the 'mistakes' they were making earlier in the season in recent weeks.
He said: ‘It’s five games on the bounce without conceding. We were short (at Portland) as well, we were down to the bare bones, Sam Pearce was suspended, Rambo (Steve Ramsey) was off with Covid and George Barker was in New York.
‘We literally had Zak Sharp and Archie Greenough on the bench, so we were short.
‘The mistakes have stopped, we’ve stopped conceding goals. Unfortunately it was a bit of stalemate at the other end and we didn’t take our chances to win the game.
‘It’s small steps, progress, we move on now and a break now until Hamble at home after Christmas.’
Portchester, who handed a debut to Rafael Ramos following his arrival from league rivals Blackfield & Langley, had to weather what of a Portland storm in the first half, with the wind against them in the first 45 minutes.
However, the Royals were on top after the restart with Lamin Jatta wasting a glorious
The mistakes have stopped, we’ve stopped conceding goals ... it’s small steps, progress Dave Carter
chance after being sent through. Portchester were then handed a preChristmas gift - or at least they thought - when Ryan McKechnie handled on the line with a penalty awarded five minutes from the end.
Up stepped the Royals' 27-goal leading scorer Wort, only for Mike Edgar to save his penalty and for the ball
to agonisingly spin wide of the goal as the visitors had to settle for a point.
■ Silvano Obeng returned to the top of the Wessex Premier goals list with his 28th of the season as Brockenhurst moved level on
points with leaders Horndean following a 2-1 home victory over Bournemouth.