Green for go as Gareth strikes

Little happened until the 20th minute when a goalbound shot from Fareham's Blake was deflected off Julian Curnow, forcing Ross Standen to dive to push the ball away for a corner.

At the other end a firm header by Darren Tidey from a cross by Gareth Green looked set for the net until it deflected off the heel of Clint Moore.

Moments later a cross from the right by Tidey found Andrew Ducille in the middle. His header reached Green coming in from the left flank and a spectacular left-foot volley rocketed into the goal.

With half an hour gone Dominic Shepherd broke through the home defence but was brought down outside the penalty area by the Fareham goalkeeper Smith, who promptly received the red card.

A slight delay ensued while Fareham decided who would take over in goal, which gave the impression that there was no experienced keeper on the bench. Despite this, the Blues failed to test the newcomer at all during the remainder of the half.

This omission was rectified right from the start of the second half. First Moore burst through only for his shot to be deflected off a defender for a corner, and from that Gary Stacey shot straight at the keeper.

Next Moore set up a chance for Shepherd but his shot was well saved low down by the post.

It was not all one-way traffic though as Fareham pushed forward, with Stacey deflecting a goalbound shot wide for a corner.

Then Green run down the left and crossed to Shepherd, whose shot crashed off the crossbar to safety.

Twice Standen was called upon to make saves from Hunt to deny Fareham an equaliser. Then with time running out Stacey made a desperate goalline clearance, and in the last minute Standen dropped a free-kick from Blake but somehow recovered in time before any Fareham attacker could pounce.

Ringmer: Standen, Bird, Dicker, Curnow, O'Callaghan, Stacey, Moore, Ducille (Beeston), Shepherd, Green, Tidy. Unused Subs: Lamont, Kedzior, Barycza, Misiura.

Ringmer Reserves returned to winning ways on Friday with a 2-0 win at home to Eastbourne UA Reserves. Lukasz Barycza scored the first from a penalty and hit the crossbar in the second. Grzegorz Misiura scored Ringmer's second with half an hour left.

On Sunday Ringmer's youth team and Forest youth finished 2-2 after extra time in a League Cup first-round tie, Zac Wilkins and Luke Hartley (penalty) scoring the goals. Ringmer won the penalty shoot-out 7-6.