THE passing of club legend Arthur Fox cast a sad shadow over Sholing’s Southern One South & West game against Clevedon Town at the Silverlake Arena.

There was a minute’s applause before kick-off to celebrate the life of the Boatmen’s much-loved vice-chairman, who had been involved with the club for more than 50 years, and Sholing’s players wore black armbands as a mark of respect.

One of Arthur’s greatest hopes when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer was to live long enough to be part of the greatest day in Sholing’s history when they graced the FA Vase final at Wembley in May.

And there was no prouder man in the national stadium when the Boatmen lifted the trophy with a 1-0 win over West Auckland.

This season is all about rebuilding, however, under the new leadership of Dave Fear and Mick Marsh and the teething troubles continued as the Boatmen stumbled to a 2-0 defeat – their fifth loss out of ten league games this season – in front of a crowd of just 64.

There was disharmony among the players to boot with skipper Byron Mason – the player who lifted the silverware at Wembley – replaced at half-time after a verbal spat with goalkeeper and Vase final man-of-the-match Matt Brown.

There was quite a sombre feel around the ground at kick-off, but Sholing did their best to lift the mood and it was Nick Watts who forced the first significant save, finishing a brilliant individual run with a vicious strike that ’keeper Kane Mannings managed to palm away. Aron Robbins spurned a glaring chance to put Clevedon in front just before the break and, with Sholing showing signs of frustration, skipper Mason came to verbal blows with Brown as the half ended 0-0.

Mason was withdrawn at half-time with Stuart Mott taking the captain’s armband and Taurean Manders going on in his place.

And it was Clevedon sub Adam Buckley who made an already sad afternoon gloomier, taking advantage of some sloppy defending to put the visitors ahead with 70 minutes gone.

Then, just five minutes later, the lead was doubled when sub Barry Mason took a free quick free-kick that was controversially cut out by Omari Sims who raced upfield and squared for Buckley to add a second. Asked if he could pick out any positives from the game, co-boss Marsh said: “I’d struggle. We are in it together and it’s going to be a long season.

If we continue like that, it is going to be an extremely long season.

“Let’s not run away from it. It’ll be about the characters now.”