Newport and East Cowes Vics were both among the points in their respective Wessex League Division One games on Saturday (3), but there was disappointment for Premier Division Cowes Sports.
Newport discovered the form that took them to the edge of promotion last season, when they travelled to Downton, who had made an impressive start to the season, with 10 points from their opening four outings, to put them top of the table. The Island side pulled off an emphatic 3-0 victory to boost morale and maintain their 100 per cent league record on their travels.
Port made an impressive start, and were rewarded after only 10 minutes when George Colson provided the cross for Joe Butcher to score. They doubled their advantage soon afterwards, thanks to an opportunist goal from Jordan Browne, and nearly added to their tally as Connor Kelly’s close-range effort was kept out by the legs of the Downton keeper. But Kelly was not to be denied early in the second period when he pounced, following strong pressure by Port, to put the game out of Downton’s reach.
The success meant that Port have secured six points from their first three matches of the new campaign, giving them the perfect platform to make up ground on the teams above them, who have all played more games.
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East Cowes Vics turned in a valiant display at Beatrice Avenue against unbeaten Andover Town East - one of the promotion favourites - and took a deserved point from a 1-1 draw. Vics knew they would be in for a testing 90 minutes, but stuck to their task manfully, despite going in at the break a goal down. Their sterling efforts were rewarded when Harrison Yates snatched the equaliser with a little over 10 minutes remaining, and they held on to claim a deserved draw.
It has been a promising start to the campaign for manager Richie Woodburn’s young hopefuls, who have amassed six points from their first five games, and remain unbeaten at Beatrice Avenue.
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Cowes Sports were given a severe test on their visit to Fareham Town in the Premier Division, and crashed to a 7-2 defeat, despite having Jimmy Mumford back in the fold. The Yachtsmen were guilty of sloppy defending, and paid the penalty, even though they went in at the interval trailing only 2-0, having also carved out a couple of decent chances for themselves. They even pulled a goal back early in the second period through skipper Finley Phillips, who curled a sweet effort into the top corner of the net.
But Fareham suddenly stepped up a couple of gears to scorch into a 5-1 lead, before Harrison Dempsey gave the Yachtsmen brief hope of a comeback. However, the hosts were not to be denied and added two more before the final whistle to inflict a defeat that left the Yachtsmen fourth from bottom in the table.
They will be hoping for better fortunes tomorrow evening (Tues) when they entertain Moneyfields, the team just above them in the league. Kick-off is at 7.45pm.
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