ONLY three Sunday matches survived the soaking the pitches received during the week.

In Division One Chineham were beaten 1-0 by AFC Laarsens, thanks to a Bailey Roffey goal, which takes them to the top of the table.

Back to league action for Hartley Sunday as they travelled to Hants FA HQ for the first Division Three encounter with FC Shallow End.

This was another game where the referee had to wear a bib so as not to be confused with the opposition.

FC Shallow End defended well and were quick on the break, with a first half seeing both sides have a couple of shots on goal without scoring.

A harsh sin bin decision saw Sean Hayes watching from the dugout for 10 minutes, but immediately made an impact on his return.

Shane Deakin was in fine form, challenging for every ball that came his way, and was finally rewarded with the first goal of the game for Hartley.

A poor challenge on Whitby saw his game come to an end as he required assistance getting back to the dugout.

The second half saw both sides attacking more positively with the majority of pressure on the Shallow End goal, whose goalkeeper made a number of good saves to keep the scoreline at 1-0. Pickup in the Hartley goal was not quite as busy but he made a couple of good saves.

Wayward passing by Hartley gave Shallow End the chance to level but Hartley defended well.

A few minutes from full-time saw Hartley secure the points when they were awarded a free-kick from outside the box and Hayes, with a superb strike, found the back of the net.

The 2-0 win was the third in a row for Hartley Sunday.

A great performance today from Hampshire Royals at the Preston Candover recreation ground. Tommy Bartlett almost opened the scoring with a cheeky chip into the net but was ruled offside. Then debut striker Ryan had a free header that was just saved by the goalkeeper.

Eventually visitors Renegades took advantage of Royals' missed and ended the half 2-0 up and from from then on it was a battle for Royals to get back in the game.

Renegades managed to sneak another two goals after a slow start to the second half but Royals responded with a goal from a world class free-kick from Lewis Adams to get them going again. However, Renegades held strong and replied by scoring a questionable goal which led to some very poor behaviour from Renegades but cool heads prevailed and the game ended 5-1.

The referee was very good in this game.

In summary the Royals' manager thought they had a brilliant performance in an entertaining game and look forward to next week as efforts are now looking towards getting some success. Renegades are on a run of three games unbeaten.

Sadly we had a couple of clubs resign this month.

Brighton Wood were a new club in Division Two and struggled through the first half of the season.

In Division One, Soldiers Return FC resigned from the league in January having not played since November.

The club entered the league in 2010/11 and went straight into Division two of four divisions as SR FC, winning their opening match 7-2.

They finished mid-table for two seasons, then changed name (and presumably pub allegiance) to Skewers FC, again finishing just under half way.

At the start of 2014/15, now known as Soldiers Return, they were placed in Division One and they won the championship at the first time of asking, although they had to wait out the final day as the second placed side were narrowly beaten by the third club.

They won the All Champions Cup that year.

The following season they retained the championship by a significant margin and the All Champions Cup.

In 2016/17 they were runners-up, the following year dropped to mid-table.

Last season they were fourth out of 10 in Division One and reached the Hampshire Sunday Intermediate Cup Final. So it is sorry to see them go.

Let's hope for better weather this coming week.