Gosport Borough 3 Marine 2

Pitching In Southern League Premier South | Saturday 19th October

Posted by Keith Yeomans on October 20th 2024

Match Report from Pete Crockett

GOSPORT EDGE A FIVE-GOAL TUSSLE

An injury time goal from Harry Williams, gave the home team some cause for concern in the final minutes. However, even the most fervent Marine supporter would be hard pressed to disagree that the home team were worthy victors.

The home team attacked with gusto in the early stages and Marine were hit with wave after wave of attacks. Gosport took the lead in the 6th minute with a slightly fortuitous goal. Rory Williams lined up a shot from distance that deflected into the path of Asher Yearwood. The Marine defenders appealed in unison for offside; the assistant’s flag stayed down; and Gosport’s number eight calmly slotted home.

The game carried on in the same vein for the next fifteen minutes with Marine very much on the back foot. Crosses fizzed into the box; defenders made courageous blocks; and there was a sense of trepidation amongst the travelling Marine faithful that this was going to be a long old day.

However, slowly but surely Marine started to get a foothold in the game. Indeed, they started to have some moments of their own. In the 26th minute a Michael Fernandes free kick cleared the bar. Then three minutes later the same player saw his shot parried by Ryan Gosney in the host’s goal. On 36 minutes Dave Sims-Burgess advanced into the Gosport area, but his effort was well blocked.

With 43 minutes elapsed Dave Sims-Burgess drove into the penalty area. The host’s Finley Walsh-Smith went to ground. He clipped the Marine player on the slide and the Marine man went down. Writing this having been only a few yards from the incident the referee, in my opinion, called it right. There was contact, the defender did not play the ball, and by sliding in in the manner he did the defender gave the referee a decision to make.

Michael Fernandes calmly ignored the protestations and delays. He nonchalantly slotted his penalty into the bottom left-hand corner to make the score 1-1 at half time. Marine supporters will have hoped the equaliser would see the visitors given a bit of a fillip. Alas, it was the hosts who started the second half with the greater dynamism - Marine were being pushed onto the back foot.

On 49 minutes Gosport got their second. Alfie Stanley cut in from the left flank. He hit a powerful shot that hit the post. As with the first goal the ricochet fell kindly for the home team. It fell into the path of the experienced Dan Wooden who thumped the ball into the back of the net. Marine were struggling to find any fluidity. The excellent Asher Yearwood was bossing the midfield for the hosts whilst Marine were struggling to pass through the home team’s disciplined press.

On 65 minutes the home team got their third. The impressive Yearwood forced a mistake and played a ball through to Alfie Stanley on the edge of the box. He took a touch and curled his effort into the far corner of the goal. Two minutes later Marine players shouted enthusiastically for a penalty following a Harry Williams effort. In fairness referee Martin Bloor seemed to call it justly as the ball seemed to strike the defender’s chest.

The game appeared to be fading out to a relatively comfortable 3-1 victory for the hosts. The Marine players though summoned their energies for a final push to get back in the game. On 82 minutes Michael Fernandes had a shot easily held by the host’s keeper. On 88 minutes a Harry Williams effort was thwarted by an excellent block.

Pushing forward Marine were then caught on the break and an Asher Yearwood effort thumped the post. Marine then counterattacked with Ollie Mehew played in by an excellent Nick Peare fifty-yard pass. The effort was blocked on the line. Then on 93 minutes Harry Williams low shot found the back of the net to set up a grandstand finish. Marine went for it and some jiggery-pokery on the edge of the box saw Michael Fernandes engineer a half chance, but his poked effort went just wide of the post. A minute later the referee blew the final whistle.

Towards the end of the game the home team’s Alex Barsa seemed to pick up a nasty injury from what initially seemed an innocuous fall. Both sets of players instantly alerted the referee there was something badly amiss. The referee immediately stopped the game and after extensive treatment the injured player was stretchered off. All connected with Swindon Supermarine wish him a speedy recovery.

This Marine defeat was not about lack of effort - the players kept going to the end. Indeed, they were not that far from sneaking an unlikely point. However, the reality was Gosport deserved their victory on the day. Asher Yearwood was the pick of their players dominating the midfield. Alfie Stanley was also lively up front.

Players who did well for Marine included goalkeeper Dan Brabham who found himself having to play in goal following Luke Purnell aggravating an injury in the warm-up. The two centre backs, Ioan Richards and Liam Angel also put in good shifts making a number of crucial blocks. The front two worked hard and posed a threat with Dave Sims-Burgess earning a penalty and Harry Williams scoring his second in two games. Sometimes you can over analyse a result. The cold reality is the better team on the day won but in losing Marine showed laudable character in fighting until the end.

Come on Marine!

Gosport Borough Star Man: Asher Yearwood
Marine Star Man: Harry Williams
Attendance: 813

Line Ups

`Line Ups`

GOSPORT BOROUGH
Manager: Pat Suraci & Joe Lea
Colours Yellow / Navy / Yellow
Line-up: 1. Ryan Gosney 2. Harry Kavanagh 3. Rory Williams (c) 4. Final Walsh-Smith 5. Charlie Wessner 7. Brad Tarbuck (14. Jake Cope 85’) 8. Ashley Yearwood 9. Dan Wooden (20. Alex Barsa 85’) (15. Paul Agbeseyl 86’) 10. Sam Fanlyan (20. Cameron Murray 75’) 11. Alfie Stanley 19. Dan Hollands
Subs not used: 17. Harry Lee,
Goalscorers: Ashley Yearwood 3’ , Dan Wooden 49’ , Alfie Stanley 65’
Cards:
Final Walsh-Smith 44’, Brad Tarbuck 45’, Ashley Yearwood 75’ Yellow Card
None Red Card
None Yellow & Red Card