BYRON Mason played one last game for Sholing at Bishop’s Cleeve on Saturday before linking up with his new club Gosport Borough in the Conference South.

But try as he might to inspire the Boatmen to victory, the departing skipper – who lifted the FA Vase at Wembley just five months ago – bowed out with a tame 0-0 draw against the Southern One South & West basement boys, who had shipped 39 goals in their previous 11 league matches.

“We had the lion’s share of the second half, but it was just one of those games,” reflected co-boss Dave Fear.

“Their ’keeper pulled off two tremendous saves, one from Wattsy (Nick Watts) and one from Barry Mason, who had come on as sub, and it just wasn’t to be.”

Cleeve arguably had the best chance of the first half when Matt Brown beat away Conor Sherry’s shot following a corner.

Sholing upped the tempo after the break, but home ’keeper Steve Benbow was in no mood to be beaten, pushing Watts’s shot round the post and then repelling Barry Mason’s 20-yard strike.

Sholing started with Nathan Lynch and Sam Wilson up front, swapping them for Mason and the fit-again Alex Baldacchino just after the hour.

“We needed to up the pace and it paid dividends in terms of the chances created, but we didn’t get the goals,” said Fear.

It was only Bishop’s Cleeve’s third point of the season, but Fear said: “Other teams have beaten them, but they defended really well today.

“We were pleased after the Wantage (3-2 win) and Didcot (2-2 draw) games and were hoping to carry that on. We’d asked the lads for seven out of nine points and we’ve ended up with five from nine. It’s another point to add to our tally.”

Sholing, 17th, take a break from league action to make two trips to league rivals Bashley in the next five days.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) they visit the lowly New Forest outfit in the Red Insure Cup followed by the FA Trophy preliminary round on Saturday.

Midfielder Alex Sawyer is a doubt after bowing out with a bad back early in the second half on Saturday, but Baldacchino showed no ill effects of his comeback off the bench after a long spell out with ankle trouble.

Weighing up the week ahead, Fear said: “The Trophy’s very important financially for us but, by the same token, we want to do well tomorrow to keep the team spirit going. As much as you might not want these midweek away matches in the Red Insure Cup, you don’t want to lose them either.”