Colin Bradbury celebrated his Fareham farewell in the best possible manner - by firing home the penalty that won the Bath Lane club Hampshire Hockey Association Cup!

Playing for the final time in his 750-plus game career, Bradbury stepped up to beat Havant's Tom Skinner and earn Fareham a shock 3-1 penalty stroke win over the EHA National League side in the county final at Burnaby Road.

"It was a story more in keeping with Roy Race in those 'Roy of the Rovers' comics we all used to read as schoolboys," quipped Bradbury, after playing in a sixth victorious Fareham cup winning team.

Fareham and Havant slugged out a goalless draw during normal time, with goalkeeper Mike Wright often performing heroics to keep his goal intact.

"Havant missed their chances, but Mike had one of those days and was simply superb," Bradbury said.

Havant continued to be off-key when it came to the penalty shoot-out and were trailing 2-1 to strikes by Declan Coughlin and Tim Tavender when Bradbury stepped up to take Fareham's fourth, potentially cup-winning stroke.

"It was a surreal feeling.

"There I was, about to strike a hockey ball in anger for the last time in my career - and it was set to decide a cup final."

But the ice-cool Bradbury sent his last-ever flick screaming into Skinner's top right-hand corner to win the cup for Fareham, the underdogs.

It brought a fitting end to Bradbury's 25-year career at Fareham, climaxed by 19 England indoor caps and a silver medal in the European Championships in Scotland.

"I've thoroughly enjoyed all of it," he said. "I started my career on the grass pitches at Bath Lane and at Price's School back in 1974, and have a lot of happy memories to look back upon.

"Fareham has been a great club to play for."

Fareham will continue to have City of Portsmouth as one of their opponents in the South Premier League again next season.

Despite winning the SPL, Portsmouth missed out in the EHA play-offs, even though they won two of their matches, beating eventual qualifiers Bath Buccaneers and Harleston Magpies. They beat Bath 4-2 and Harleston 3-2, but lost to Ipswich, Bowdon and Harborne.

"Reaching the play-offs was a tremendous achievement and everyone at the club has a lot to be proud of," said Pete Hayward, who is stepping down as player/coach.