Anything Hamble ASSC can do, fellow strugglers Downton can match it.

Having fallen four points adrift at the foot of the Sydenhams Wessex League table following Hamble's 1-0 triumph at Portland on Saturday, the rock-bottom Robins instantly narrowed the gap again last night with a 3-1 home win over Cowes Sports.

It leaves Jeff Softley's side a point behind the Planemakers who, in turn, are six adrift of third-to-bottom Portland.

Softley confessed: "In hindsight I'm pleased Hamble got that result on Saturday because it means some of the others like Portland and Alton don't pull too far away.

"To be honest we should also have won against Moneyfields on Saturday, but we gave away a silly, late penalty and drew 1-1."

There were no such problems last night as Downton clawed back from a goal down to level 1-1 at half-time through Callum Robertson.

Robertson, a former Salisbury City and Andover midfielder, also got the second before Matt Guy put the result beyond doubt.

"We absolutely battered them, but their goalkeeper was awesome," said Softley. "Brian Le Boutillier, the ex-Andover manager (now coach of BAT), is standing with me and reckons 7-1 would have been a fair result.

"Callum was at Andover under Howard Goddard, but he had a bad injury and was out last season. The lad loves to play football and when he's on song, we tend to be on song too."

Reflecting on the relegation scrap, he added: "There's a long way to go yet and we're still hopeful. We've been playing well, but we need to take our chances. We can still play better."

Downton may be one of the league's 'have-nots' but on a night when the rest of the Division 1 and 2 programme was rained off, Softley was grateful to have a decent pitch to play on, saying: "It held up really well."

The only other game to survive the downpours was at Thatcham where Jason Braidwood's high-fliers washed away Christchurch 8-0 in the Wessex League Cup fourth round.

Top scorer Ian Davies bagged a hat-trick as did Sean Cook, who has just returned to Waterside Park from Salisbury. Tommy McCormick and Jamie Green completed Priory's punishment.

Braidwood felt somewhat sorry for Pete Moore's Christchurch, saying: "They had a goal disallowed in the first minute, then we went 2-0 up and scored a third which looked offside. They lost their way after that, but all credit to Christchurch, they kept coming at us and never stopped playing football."

Thatcham's reward is a trip to holders Winchester City, where they last week triumphed 3-1 in the league. Braidwood said: "We've already been there and won and we can do it again."

Revised quarter-final draw: Fareham Town v Hamworthy Utd, Gosport Borough v Romsey Town or AFC Newbury (playing tonight), Hamble ASSC v Poole Town, Winchester City v Thatcham Town.