Borough beaten by dominant Pompey in pre-season clash
By Connor Steel
GOSPORT BOROUGH suffered their first defeat of ‘pre-season’ as they hosted huge local rivals Portsmouth at the AEI Stadium on Tuesday evening; eventually losing three-one against the League One Champions after a close-fought and watchable friendly encounter that yielded positives for both sets of supporters despite the changing weather conditions.
The visitors started brightly and created an opportunity within four minutes as Josh Murphy advanced quickly down the wing before the pass was turned behind by Charlie Wassmer for a corner. Pompey then saw Ben Stevenson drag over the crossbar with his powerful angled effort after ten minutes as Borough defended brilliantly under sustained pressure.
Away momentum was rewarded on twenty minutes when Callum Lang broke into a pocket of space and fed a low pass into Murthy, who slotted home the opener with a driven finish past the keeper. In response, Gosport did win a couple of set piece openings and saw Bradley Tarbuck flash wide of the right post following jinxing footwork to beat this defender.
The half hour mark passed without further incident as Pompey continued to dominate possession in attacking positions and had Anthony Scully go closer to linking with Murphy’s drilled ball. Down the other end Asher Yearwood was looking particularly calm and found Danny Hollands when recycling a corner on 41 minutes; the midfielder lashing over the bar.
A completely changed team at the interval gave Pompey a boost and they may have doubled the advantage with three great chances; the first coming as Kusini Yengi was inches away from firing home a whipped pass. Striker Paddy Lane then found himself on goal and was brilliantly denied by the onrushing home goalkeeper before firing a half volley over.
But Pompey weren’t to rue these missed opportunities as they added a second goal on 62 minutes with Yengi showing his range of skills; the attacker running through the backline and chipping a shot inside the net with a good finish. Lane and Christian Saydee almost made it three-nil with varying shots that were both deflected; the home midfield four tiring.
Substitutions offered Borough a fresh ‘impetus’ and they saw their reward after 87 minutes through Yearwood; the new signing converting a free kick into the net for two-one. And this goalscoring was soon complete as Pompey netted their third to complete this victory; Jack Sparkes advancing forward at ‘pace’ and unleashing a rocket into the top left corner.
Joint-managers Pat Suraci and Joe Lea will no doubt take positives from this Gosport performance versus some higher quality players; particularly as this is only their third pre-season encounter of the campign to date. Their next match will see them play Horsham at the AEI Stadium on Saturday afternoon before they travel to Horndean on Tuesday evening.
PICTURED BY JACK ALDRIDGE: Kian Towse protects ball away from Portsmouth defence in this hard-fought local tie.
