Winchester 3 - Bemerton 3

While Bemerton's two-goal striker Stuart Findlay came back to haunt his former club in Saturday's 3-3 draw at the City Ground, another Winchester old boy, Michael Jackson, thumped in a hat-trick for new league leaders Lymington & New Milton in their 5-0 crushing of Christchurch.

Crucially, it means the destination of the championship - and possible promotion - is no longer in City's hands. With just one match remaining, they trail the Foresters by two points.

Even if Winchester beat Brockenhurst at home next Saturday, it will count for nothing if the Linnets turn Gosport Borough over at Fawcett's Field.

Truth to tell, Winchester can consider themselves very fortunate to have escaped defeat against a buoyant Bemerton side, who had no intention of smoothing City's path to the title.

With 16 minutes remaining, Findlay made it 3-1 to the Harlequins and, even though City rallied well to salvage a point, it merely papered over the cracks of an otherwise poor performance.

"With only 180 minutes of the season left, you'd have expected one last push from us, but too many were looking forward to the summer break," summed up Hards.

"I said this week that you end up where you deserve to be and, on today's performance, we don't deserve to be top.

"The title race is not over yet, but the problem we've got is having to rely on Gosport to pick something up, which is not ideal.

"It was important we didn't lose today though, even though we deserved to. A draw's no good to Lymington if we beat Brockenhurst. Because our goal difference is better, they've got to win."

Bemerton co-manager Steve Slade felt reigning champions Winchester were guilty of "grossly underestimating" his side.

"I'd have settled for 3-3 before the game, but I'm actually gutted we didn't win," he said. "Stu Findlay should have had a hat-trick and he's gutted too."

Despite fielding three strikers - Ian Mancey, Jamie Musselwhite and Jamie Laidlaw - who had netted 76 league goals between them, Winchester lacked their normal potency up front.

And though it took Mancey only three minutes to cancel out Neil Cole's headed opener for the Harlequins, it was Findlay - scorer of over 200 goals during his Winchester days - who taught his old club the art of finishing.

With 51 minutes gone he pounced on Ian Buckman's mistake to drill an angled shot into the far corner.

Hards waited in vain for a response from City before throwing on a fourth striker, Ben Kneller, at the expense of defender Jamie Austen.

Six minutes later Findlay exploited that rearguard gap, outwitting Buckman and keeper Alan Walker-Harris to curl in Bemerton's third.

Musselwhite pulled one back for City following an initial shot by Kneller before Harlequins twice went close at the other end.

First aerial powerhouse Cole had a goalbound header turned round for a corner and then Findlay broke clear again only to be denied by a great saving tackle from Mark Jones.

Winchester, though, refused to give in and, in a dramatic finale, threw caution to the wind by sending Walker-Harris up for a corner.

As Mark Smith's delivery came over, the keeper flung himself into a diving header which, it later transpired, took a last touch off Mancey on its way in.

While bitterly disappointed to have dropped two points, Hards gave credit to the opposition.

"Bemerton worked hard off the ball and when they had possession they used it well," he said. "The two front boys were a handful. Stuart Findlay doesn't score 20-odd goals a season by being a poor player."

Winchester must now pick themselves up for Wednesday's Hampshire Senior Cup final against Conference National outfit Aldershot Town (AFC Bournemouth, 7.30).