DAVE Diaper is confident morale will stay high as Sholing see out a hectic end to their farewell Southern One South & West season.

The Boatmen announced last week that they are withdrawing from the league for the time being to concentrate their resources on the up-coming development of their Portsmouth Road home, writes WENDY GEE.

But, despite going down to a 3-0 defeat at second-placed Hungerford Town on Saturday, Diaper, pictured below, insisted there was nothing downbeat about his side’s performance.

“It wasn’t a 3-0 game,” he said. “We had two or three really good chances kicking down the slope in the first half and Charlie Smeeton’s had one cleared off the line.

“But we fell behind to a back-post header in the 45th minute and Hungerford came out of the blocks very quickly in the second half when the weather deteriorated.”

It was John Boardman who headed the Berkshire promotion-chasers in front from Alan O’Brien’s corner and Bradley Gray who doubled their lead just nine minutes after the restart.

Lee Webber, making his return to the Sholing goal, parried well and Mike Carter cleared off the line. But the ball ran into the path of Gray who eventually capitalised.

Luke Brewer then drew another good save out of Webber but, again Hungerford punished the rebound as James Clarke knocked in a third.

“We battled really well, but Hungerford’s a tough place to go at the best of times and it wasn’t easy defending the slope with torrential hailstones coming down. Plus we had a few injury problems,” said Diaper.

“Byron Mason had to come off after taking a kick on the ankle, Lewis Fennemore also got a knock and Mike Carter got a split lip but carried on playing.

“Worty (striker Lee Wort) came back after injury and looked a bit rusty, but Daniel Mason couldn’t go on because of a groin problem. We ended up pushing (centre-half) Pete Castle up front for the last 20 minutes.

“All things considered, I was pleased with our performance in difficult conditions.”

With 14 league games still to play, Sholing have a busy programme ahead. They face three home games in the next six days – against Bridgwater tonight, Evesham on Wednesday and Wimborne on Saturday.

With their reserves in Wyvern League Cup semi-final action at New Milton Town tomorrow, playing resources will be at full stretch.

But Diaper, whose side lie 15th, insisted: “We’re too professional to let the rest of the season become a slog. We don’t like losing games and everyone remains determined to do well. “We’ve got 42 points still to play for and we want to get as many as we can.”

With Poole Town’s trip to Swindon Supermarine rained off, Hungerford are just a point behind Tommy Killick’s league leaders having played four games more. Poole are due to travel to Clevedon on Wednesday.

Winchester City’s home match against Tiverton was also postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

The only other game that survived the weather was at Wimborne where Steve Cuss’s Magpies stunned play-off contenders Yate 5-1 through Shaun Brian (2), Jon Blake (2) and a superb curling effort from former Winchester and Sholing defender Nathan Peprah-Annan. The Magpies are up to tenth.