Blackfield & Langley, Christchurch, New Milton Town and Totton & Eling in midweek Wessex League action

FOUR local sides competed in midweek league action, with Blackfield & Langley and Christchurch in the premier division, with New Milton Town and Totton & Eling in division one.

Blackfield and Langley secured a 2-1 victory over Fareham Town. However, the remaining sides all suffered defeats, with Christchurch's nine-goal loss to Shaftesbury the most lopsided.

New Milton Town suffered a 3-2 defeat to Andover Town, while Totton & Eling lost to 3-1 to Downton.

Blackfield & Langley battled back from a goal down before dominating Fareham to take all three points after a first-half brace from Ali Zintany with a scoreline that heavily flattered the visitors at the Gang Warily Recreation Centre.

The sides shared an evenly contested opening to the match. However, after Fareham took a one-goal lead, it only looked like a Blackfield win as Fareham keeper Dan Kempson kept the score respectable.

With 20 minutes gone, Fareham produced a moment of brilliance to break the deadlock when Gary Austin pounced on a ball before chipping Amadeusz Skrzyniarz superbly with the strike just squeezing inside the post.

The goal sparked the Watersiders into life, and they fashioned multiple chances. However, poor finishing or superb saves from Dan Kempson preserved the Creeksiders' lead until the 39th minute.

A deep cross from the right-hand side floated across the area where Kempson managed to get a hand on it. However, the ball only made it as far as Zintany, who swept it home to level the match.

The Watersiders continued to exploit the space behind, and another ball over the top resulted in a goalmouth scramble for Zintany to poke home again just four minutes after his first.

Blackfield appeared in total command, with the midfield dropping deep to stop the balls over the top, leaving the attack isolated and struggling to make an impact.

With the match coming to an end, Blackfield's Harvey-Joe Bertrand blocked a powerful shot with his face and lost consciousness for a short period. Then, much to the relief of all, he got back to his feet after a lengthy delay.

Christchurch's horror run continued with a nine-goal thrashing at the hands of Shaftesbury, the second time the Priory have lost by such a margin this season.

Ben Hatch's team have only avoided defeat twice in 16 games in all competitions all season, and they were never in this match.

The Rockies' goals came from Ash Pope and Aidan Shepherd with two apiece, and strikes from Luke Burbidge, Jamie Wilson, Kyle Graham, and Asa Phillips.

Christchurch found themselves at 2-0 after just eight minutes when an inspired Ash Pope found the top corner and scored a fantastic header against his former club.

It was one-way traffic from there as the Rockies racked up a five-goal half-time lead before continuing the punishment after the break.

After putting themselves in a decent position with a two-goal lead, New Milton will be frustrated they let all three points slip after an inspired performance from Andover's David Jerrard, who scored all three of his side's goals.

After a promising start to the season that saw New Milton lose twice in 11 games, their form has dipped with just one win in the last five.

Chris Long gave the visitors the lead after 13 minutes when he finished from close range off a Tyrell Sampson cross.

Four minutes later, the opener was followed up with a superb strike from Tyler Rudd that left keeper Karl Steinborn-Busse with no chance.

Then, Town pulled one back through off the head of Jerrard after a Charles Medway free-kick.

With the half-time whistle approaching, Jerrard produced a moment of magic to lift the ball over Luke Dennison for 2-2.

Jerrard claimed his third goal 10 minutes after the break by heading in a rebound after a great save from Dennison.

New Milton pushed for the equaliser, but Steinborn-Busse produced a great save before the linesman ruled out a goal for a marginal offside, and the ball clattered off the crossbar as the time ran out.

Totton & Eling took the lead against Downton, but that was as good as it got, and Downton battled back to win 3-1.

With eight minutes gone, Nehniah McKenley-Burke lined up a free-kick from 20 yards, and he did brilliantly getting the ball up and down while curling in a lovely free-kick.

After 26 minutes, a nice pass from Sam Howe found the space between Cameron Butler and keeper Lewis Dumper. The Downton man did well to beat the keeper to the ball and poke home.

Shaun Prentice reacted quickly to a rebound to fire home from close range and rob Totton of a point with just 10 minutes left.