WHEN you are down at the bottom, luck has a horrible habit of deserting you – and no one knows that better than Alresford Town.

The relegation-haunted Magpies looked odds on to salvage a late Sydenhams Premier point at Sholing on Saturday until the woodwork intervened, writes Wendy Gee.

Sholing had thrashed Alresford 7-1 earlier in the season, but the return match was a lot tighter with just an Owen Roundell header separating the sides in the Boatmen’s 1-0 win at the Silverlake Arena.

Roundell, playing in the absence of centre-back Dan Miller, bagged the winner with just over an hour gone.

The Boatmen had been dominant from set-pieces and it paid dividends when Kev Brewster delivered a corner which the youngster met with a downward header at the far post.

Luke Bergg became Sholing’s ninth player aged 18 or younger to appear for the first team this season when he replaced Alex Sawyer.

And the teenager almost had a dream debut when he made space in the box for a shot, but Alresford keeper John Howard finger-tipped his curling effort to safety.

The Magpies came agonisingly close to levelling in stoppage time.

Brian Howard drove a free-kick into the defensive wall and the Boatmen couldn’t clear their lines.

Rian Jima-Otero delivered back into the danger zone where skipper John Mulhern curled his effort against the bar before Ollie Yates fired the rebound over.

With just nine games left, the outlook appears bleak for Alresford who are now six points adrift of third-to-bottom Fawley AFC (Ben Bolton) following the Oilers’ 1-1 draw with Lymington Town (Warren Kenna).

The games don’t get any easier for Martin Beck’s Magpies, who tomorrow (Tuesday) host a Salisbury side determined to forget Saturday’s FA Vase woe and get back to the business of winning the league.

Sholing, fifth, will be look to cement that position away at sixth-placed Horndean on Thursday (March 24).

The Deans are smarting after a comprehensive 3-0 derby defeat at AFC Portchester.

Goals from Joe Bye, Steve Ramsey and Ash Howes got Graham Rix’s fourth-placed Royals back on track after back-to-back league losses at Cowes and Newport IoW.

Portchester tomorrow (Tuesday) entertain Hampshire Premier League outfit Otterbourne in the semi-finals of the Russell Cotes Cup.