DAN Mason grabbed his 30th goal of another prolific season for Sholing on Saturday.

But that was the only bright spot for the Boatmen as lowly Fawley put their recent problems behind them to secure a gutsy 1-1 Sydenhams Premier Division draw at the Universal Stadium.

A scrappy first half brought minimal chances – the first falling to Sholing’s towering defender Dan Miller who headed over from a corner with seven minutes gone.

Fawley’s only real opportunity fell to Matt Smith on 18 minutes.

He struck the ball low and hard but was denied by Ryan Gosney in the home goal.

Another corner came Sholing’s way five minutes later with Luke Dempsey’s effort hitting the post as he and Mason tried to scramble the ball over the line.

The Boatmen’s last chance of a poor opening period disappeared when Micky Hubbard fired a yard wide of the upright.

It took Sholing less than seven second-half minutes to engineer their first major opening of the afternoon.

But Mason’s volley was impressively saved by former AFC Totton head coach Lee Burch in the Oilers goal.

Fawley’s resistance was finally broken on 54 minutes when divisional top gun Mason ran through and placed his shot perfectly into the bottom right-hand corner, giving Burch no chance.

A spate of Sholing pressure followed with Mason, strike partner Lee Wort and skipper Byron Mason all going close to a second.

But it was the visitors who found a finish on 70 minutes when Kieran Roche sprinted through to level.

Fawley saw off one last Sholing threat five minutes into added time as Wort burst through and Burch came out to deny him one-on-one.

The result leaves 2014 champions Sholing in fourth spot, 14 points adrift of league leaders Moneyfields.

Fawley edged above Whitchurch into 19th place and the good news for the Oilers is that they will be back playing at their Long Lane home this Saturday (January 14) despite the recent closure of the Waterside Sports & Social Club.

Kick-off against Newport IoW has been brought forward to 2pm.

Sholing hit the road to Lymington Town on Saturday.

* Sholing’s development squad are at home to Hamble Reserves in the Southampton Senior Cup quarter-finals this Saturday.