IT'S been a deadly December for former leaders Locks Heath, whose worrying slump in form continued when they slipped to a fourth successive defeat on Saturday.

Matt Parr's side suffered another December disaster as they were beaten 2-1 at home by Alresford Town - and all this comes after Parr's ex-table-toppers had only lost two of the opening 18 league games.

"Unfortunately, I've lost the spine of my side through injury and we are struggling badly at the moment," admitted the Locks Heath boss.

Dean Cole added to Parr's woes by rounding the 'Heath keeper to give Alresford a 15th-minute lead which they doubled after 44 minutes when Joel Matthews headed home a Ryan Doyle corner kick.

The home side grabbed a late consolation through a Mike Summers penalty after he had been pulled back in the area.

Second-placed Romsey Town failed to take full advantage as their injury-ravaged side could only draw 1-1 at bottom club AFC Aldermaston.

"I've never known injuries this bad at the club. We even had to cancel our reserve team fixture today because we've so many players out at the moment," sighed Romsey manager Trevor Holmes.

Mike Loughmore forced in a corner by skipper Kevin Hill to give the basement battlers a shock 70th-minute lead, with Simon Woodley heading in an Andy McIsaac free kick for Romsey's equaliser on 82 minutes.

Four first-half goals maintained Petersfield's promotion push as they accounted for Andover New Street 4-0 at Love Lane. Even a second-half penalty miss by Gavin Keogh couldn't spoil Town's day.

Andy Wilson fired the home club into a 15th-minute lead, Keogh scrambled in their second two minutes later, with Matt Sherry's effort from the edge of the penalty area making it 3-0 after just 20 minutes.

The scoring was completed on 37 minutes when Guy Madgo wriggled along the byline, beating two defenders, before firing home from an acute angle.

A Luke Atkinson hat-trick couldn't prevent Fawley from slipping to a 4-3 home defeat against Horndean.

"Luke has scored something like nine goals in four games since his return and we just need someone to play alongside him," reflected Fawley boss Kev Dawtry.

Efforts by Steve Warwick (25), Ashley Howard (35) and a James Searle brace (60 and 67) eased Horndean into a 4-1 lead before a late flurry by Atkinson set-up a tense finale.

Stockbridge also triumphed 4-3 in a seven-goal thriller at Whitchurch United while two goals in as many minutes saw Blackfield & Langley draw 1-1 at Ringwood Town.

Blackfield took the lead after 46 minutes when Rob Morant beat the offside trap to score at the third attempt, only for Ringwood's top-gun, Carl Fleet, to lob the keeper just 60 seconds later.

Hythe & Dibden finished with ten men for the second Saturday running after Ian Harvey was dismissed for lashing out in the first half of their 2-1 success over East Cowes Vics at Jones Lane.

A superb run and near-post cross by Mike Naidoo saw Danny Hosey shoot Hythe into a 73rd-minute lead which the ten men doubled in the last minute when another Hosey effort proved too hot for the Vics keeper to handle.

The Islanders did manage a reply three minutes into stoppage time, a Danny Cantello drive being deflected over the home keeper.