Historic promotion for Bemerton Heath Harlequins
A 3-0 win over Portchester on Tuesday sealed the deal
Bemerton Heath Harlequins have gained promotion to the Southern League for the first time in their history.
Following a final game victory over AFC Portchester, who were second in the table heading into the game, Bemmy were informed of their promotion by the Wessex League.
The delay was due to a possible play-off against a Southern League side, but automatic promotion was confirmed by virtue of a greater points-per-game.
“It’s a little bit of a shock still,” said Director of Football Ian Saunders, “but everyone at the club is over the moon.”
Harlequins won an astonishing 15 of their last 17 league games, dropping points to only Laverstock & Ford and Moneyfields since the end of January.
Ian said: “We got beat by a good Stoneham side at the end of January and then we went on a tremendous run. After the loss against Moneyfields, we felt maybe that might have been the one that took it away from us.
“But we kept getting W’s in the column and we got to our last two games against the top side and the side that was second. We thought if we can be positive, we might be lucky.”
Ian described the final game against Portchester as a “brilliant” night, saying the scenes in the dressing room afterwards were “phenomenal”.
Ian praised manager Shaun Hale and his staff, as well as the players and chairman Steve Slade, but made a special mention for former vice-chairman Clive “Leo” Leonard, who passed away earlier this year.
“(Clive) been a real driving force at this football club. We feel he’s been watching down on us for the last few months.
“It would be remiss of me not to say ‘thank you Leo’, we hope to do you proud again next year.”
Bemerton’s promotion puts them one division below the city’s biggest club, Salisbury FC.
Congratulations on the promotion to everyone at Bemerton Heath Harlequins FC!