A DOMINANT Bemerton Heath Harlequins were denied a perfect start to the new year after conceding at the death in their 1-1 draw with AFC Portchester.

Jack Slade had put the Western Way outfit on course for a first win in four matches until James Musselwhite popped up with a late leveller to halve the points.

In one of three Wessex Premier matches to survive the wet weather on Saturday, frontman Slade was the root cause of the visitors’ problems and he should have fired Harlequins ahead within the opening 10 minutes.

A sequence of chances followed, with the likes of Slade’s partner-in-crime Scott Joyce and Jamie Waters, both of whom failed to hit the target when in fantastic positions.

Slade’s first half goal followed from good work by the impressive Jack Eves.

The second half saw no change in proceedings as Bemerton continued to create the vast majority of the openings with the visitors penned in their own half.

Slade, Joyce and substitute Tom Moseley should all have put the home team out of sight, and central midfielder Neil Williams was desperately unlucky not to be used when poised for two tap-ins.

But a rare Portchester chance resulted in a Get out of Jail Free card after a speculative cross was not cleared and Musselwhite stabbed home to rescue a point for the Hampshire side.

Rueing a clutch of missed opportunities that should have bagged the points was Bemerton boss Ian Chalk.

He said: “We created enough chances to win three games but unfortunately failed to take advantage of our dominance, but at least we stayed in control for the whole game which was pleasing to see for once.”