Having come off the back of a tremendous win against Bemerton, RTFC headed into the game missing 4 key players - Jedi, Pierson, Gogan, Bellott and having to feild 2 debutants and Taylor on the bench. Against a side Taylor had already labelled as 'the best in the league' it was always going to be tough.
The first 15 minutes were pretty even with Fareham creating chances from wide positions but delivering the ball from too deep to have any effect. Ringwood had 2 good attacks down the left with Carl Foster breezing past the Fareham defence but putting in two lame crosses.
Fareham's breakthorugh came following some suicidal play by Simon Atkins at left back. Trying to pass the ball across the midfield on a poor surface, Fareham easily cut the ball out and played it out wide to the left winger. With Atkins out of position, the ball was delivered to the far post to allow the centre forward to head home unmarked.
5 minutes later events dictated the outcome of the game. A simple ball over the top of the RTFC defence saw a mix up between Rhodes and Brunnen. With neither fully committed to their actions the Fareham forward nipped between the two to shoot. Rhodes was out of his area and the ball struck him on the arm. The referee deemed it a sending off and RTFC were forced to put Burrett in goal. His first action was to produce a fantastic save from the resulting free-kick, much to the delight of the home crowd.
However Fareham began to dominate play and scored 2 quick goals thereafter. Meanwhile, Carl Foster had picked up a knock to the ankle and hobbled off to be replaced by debutant Jamie Head. On the stroke of half time a demoralising 4th was scored and RTFC trudged into the changing room looking for some pride.
Worse was to follow, as within 60 seconds of the restart Jamie Head was unfortunate to angle a Fareham cross into the back of his own net and two further goals followed in a crazy 10 minute spell.
By this time the game was over but Fareham continued to pile on the pressure. Their 10th goal brought up a morale busting total for Ringwood - 100 goals conceded this campaign!