FA Vase finalists Winchester City have not abandoned all hope of promotion next season.

Although the Wessex League ground graders concluded that their Abbotts Barton base was not up to scratch, there's a chance the Southern League may think otherwise.

Dr Martens inspectors visited the Denplan City Ground on Monday and Winchester's director of football David Malone was encouraged by what he heard.

He said: "I'm not saying we'll get the go-ahead, but the inspection was far from a waste of time. They've given us every encouragement and been very positive about what we need to do.

"We thought the door had been closed on us, but the April 1 deadline has come and gone and they haven't said 'no'."

Although the Wessex League have always maintained that City would need covered standing to go up, Malone has been told otherwise.

He stressed: "We do not need covered terracing and the Southern League are also happy to accept our seating. The major issue is our fence which needs to be closed rather than open - and that requires planning permission.

"I'm a lot more optimistic than I was. I thought they'd say there was no way we were going to get in. In fact I was so sure they would turn us down that I almost cancelled the inspection."

Malone's more pressing concern right now is steering the team through a nightmare fixture backlog which threatens to undermine their quest for league and Vase glory.

Although City sneaked a 1-0 SWL win over Christchurch last night to stay a point behind leaders Wimborne, they looked a shadow of the side that crushed Bideford in the Vase semi-final.

The winner came on 30 minutes when Mark Blake's strong run forced a corner and, from Danny Smith's delivery, Lloyd Webber played the ball into the danger zone for Ian Mancey to shoot home.

Malone acknowledged: "Christchurch worked very, very hard. They got everyone behind the ball and made life very difficult for us.

"We didn't play very well and we're scrapping for results at the moment.

"It's worrying because we're not getting the chance to play with a settled side and then we've got to take that into the Vase final."

City's three new signings all got a run-out - Stuart Cooper in the unfamiliar right wing-back role, Gary Funnell in midfield and Jamie Laidlaw going on as a late substitute for top gun Andy Forbes.

Wimborne also scraped home 1-0 at Gosport Borough thanks to a first-half Sam Percival header from Marcus Oldbury's free kick.

It leaves third-placed Gosport 12 points adrift of Winchester and with little hope of securing a top-two promotion place.

Winchester are home to Portland United tomorrow.