CALLUM Horton was the unlikely goalkeeping hero as Ringwood Town secured back-to-back 1-0 victories in the Wessex League.

The only goal of the contest against Whitchurch United came courtesy of a late Ryan Hamm penalty.

But that was far from the only drama at Long Lane.

A 15-minute stoppage took place early in the first half as Ringwood goalkeeper Joel Hirdle suffered a serious knee injury, forcing centre-back Horton to fill in between the sticks.

Horton was called upon several times in the first half and saved a first-half penalty before Hamm’s 85th minute strike from the spot earned the home side a hard-fought victory.

It was the second time this season that Horton has been called upon to deputise in goal and earned high praise from Ringwood boss Richard Morse.

He said: “Callum in goal was excellent. He made a great save for the penalty and another just after that.

“Real credit to him for playing in goal as he has been playing well at centre-back.”

The Ringwood boss also confirmed that Hirdle will miss the rest of the season after damaging his Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL).

Morse added: “Obviously we had a change with Joel being stretchered off, which has been diagnosed as damaging his MCL.

“That will put him out for the rest of the season which is a shame as he has just come back from a knee injury.”

With Horton having to put on the gloves, Jack Knight came off the bench to replace Hirdle meaning Charlie Hitchings was moved from left-back where Knight slotted in.

Ringwood had started the game sloppily and the changes to the defence took the team a while to adjust to.

With just under half an hour played Horton came rushing out of his goal and brought down Whitchurch striker Nathan Lynch in the box.

Lynch stepped up to take the penalty, but Horton dived to his right and denied the veteran forward despite his effort being well placed in the bottom corner.

Ringwood were able to get to the break with the score level and a chance for Morse to rally the team after a disjointed first 45 minutes.

Morse used his second substitute during the break, bringing on captain Ben Harris for Sammy Brown and the Ringwood boss believed the switch “made a real difference”.

“In the first half I thought we were untidy with our passing and play but felt they didn’t really cause us many problems," he said.

“The second half we were much better. We started off on the front foot and really took the game to Whitchurch.

“Ben Harris coming on made a real difference and we got our goal from Hammy.”

Hamm claimed his fifth goal of the campaign since rejoining Ringwood from Bashley earlier this season and was brought down in the box by Whitchurch keeper Chris Wing as the game entered its final stages.

Ringwood remain in 14th place in Wessex One, with four games remaining.

In the same league, Verwood Town lost 3-0 at Ash United, while goals from Christopher Long and Tyrrell Sampson came in vain as New Milton Town lost 3-2 to Petersfield Town.