ELLINGHAM and Ringwood were left licking their wounds after throwing away a priceless17-0 lead.

Fareham Heathens pegged back an indecisive hosts to win the Snows Hampshire One contest 37-17.

The big crowd at the Raymond Brown Memorial Ground were rewarded with an early try when lock forward Nick MacQueen crashed over.

Full back Josh Butcher kicked the conversion and a penalty goal to open up a ten-point gap. Later in the half Tim Linford made a good break and scored a try under the posts, which Butcher converted to extend the lead to 17-0.

But Fareham were starting to dominate the scrum and shortly before half time scored a push over try, which they converted to make it 17-7 at the break.

In the second half, Fareham continued to dominate the scrum and Ellingham’s lack of discipline in the contact area led to them conceding far too many penalties. A converted try then levelled the score midway through the second half. Ellingham had a chance to regain the lead with a penalty kick, but this went wide of the most and Fareham then dominated the last 20 minutes to increase their lead and, with it, an important away bonus point.