WHITCHURCH United lost out in a five-goal thriller on the opening day at Hythe and Dibden before going down 3-2.

The Jam Boys facing their former goalkeeper Josh Cotton took the lead after nine minutes.

Ryan Long and Rory Wood chased a through ball deep into the home area, the defence failed to clear, and Corey Cherrett scrambled the ball home.

However, by half-time the home side had levelled things from Filippos Terzidis.

Whitchurch’s Konrad Szymaniak then produced the save of the afternoon in tipping a Cain Prentice header over.

Whitchurch had went close as Nick Yeomans sent Long clear and with all expecting a shot the striker squared the ball across the area only for Lloyd Thompson to side foot it the wrong side of the post.

The half ended with a crunching tackle on Corey Cherrett by Richard Bridle that should have earned the home player a red card not a yellow.

Cherrett was replaced by Keiron Fuller on the re-start and Fuller’s suffered a really bad knee injury and left on a stretcher.

Whitchurch then took the lead thanks to a Yeomans penalty after Wood had been brought down. However, a brace from Prentice made sure of a 3-2 win for the home side.

Whitchurch boss Glyn Cherrett said: "It was a great game of football and a draw would have been a fair result. We had a goal disallowed we don't know what for and the tackle on Corey should have been a red card, but that's football."

This Saturday, Whitchurch are at home to Fawley and on Tuesday night travel to Romsey.

OVERTON were unable to raise a team for their Hampshire Premier League opener at Infinity.

This Saturday, they are in action at Hayling United.