Match report: Wessex League Division One survival-chasing Fawley AFC let shock Romsey Town FC victory slip from their grasp in 2-2 draw

Fawley AFC were seconds away from upsetting Romsey Town and putting themselves on the brink of league survival, but a last-gasp heartbreaker left the two sides all square on Saturday.

Ever-reliable skipper Dec Hartigan moved himself to the top of the club’s goal-scorer charts with a well-taken brace before Maciej Marcinkowski and Dylan Andrews snatched a point for Romsey.

“We come away from the match feeling like we’ve lost”, said Fawley AFC boss Lee Shepherd. “Conceding with the last kick of the game is tough to take, but we know as a group we should have seen the game out and scored more than the two goals we did.

“The 12 minutes of added time was baffling, but we only have ourselves to blame. If you’d told me two weeks ago that we would get eight points in four games, I’d have taken it—full credit to the group for stepping up and showing the togetherness required.

“A tough test next weekend against table toppers New Milton. We will prepare as best we can and keep trying to climb the table.”

The Oilers got off to a bright start, with James Clifton forcing an excellent save from Miles Bartram after catching a half-volleyed effort from distance with 16 minutes played.

Romsey thought they had taken the lead just after 20 minutes, but a heroic effort by Curtis Griffin saw the defender clear the ball off the line from a corner.

With 10 minutes of the 45 left, Hartigan delivered a sublime strike to take the lead, with an upset keeper earning a place in the sin-bin shortly afterwards.

After the restart, Hartigan went over in the box after a clumsy defender clipped him. The Fawley stalwart stepped up and made no mistake.

Fawley should have made it 3-0 just after the hour mark. Winger Will Berry hit a powerful goalbound effort that the keeper parried into the danger zone. Hartigan only had the time to take a snap-shot, and he looked on in agony as it sailed past the goal.

With 14 minutes left, the momentum shifted when the referee pointed to the penalty spot against the run of play. Maciej Marcinkowski converted beyond Jamie Bruce to set up a nervy finale.

The match descended into an end-to-end affair more resembling a basketball game.

Fawley almost found their third before eight minutes of added time were signalled.

With more than 10 minutes of added time played, substitute Dylan Andrews broke the hosts’ hearts with a superb finish from the edge of the box to snatch a point.

The Oilers travel to take on league leaders New Milton Town on Saturday.

Fawley AFC: J. Bruce, I. Elezi, H. Abdi, C. Griffin, L. Biggs, M. Hawkins, J. Clifton, F. Craigen, J. Roberts, D. Hartigan, W. Berry. Subs: J. Tribe, C. Lemon, D. Knight, M. West, L. Smith.