This coming Bank Holiday weekend, the Boro’ will welcome Plymouth Parkway to the AEI Stadium, and subsequently bring the glory of the only local football event available in the area.

The Southern League Premier South newcomers are still looking for their first victory of the season however, Boro’ manager Shaun Gale is full of praise for Lee Hobbs’ team:

“Plymouth are a decent side. Their manager has done a great job getting them up and promoted last season and they won’t be where they are come the end of the season.

“It’s a tough game for us, and they’ve obviously not had the start they wanted, but I don’t take that lightly. They’ll be looking to get some wins under their belt and they’ll be looking to start on Saturday against us.

Previous ‘Battles of the Ports’
Parkway were only promoted to The Southern League Premier South last year after accruing 81 points in Division One and topping the table however, a crowd of 555 welcomed Plymouth to Privett Park almost a year ago in The Emirates FA Cup First Round Qualifying.

A 26th minute penalty from Theo Widdrington opened the scoring for the Boro’, and William Palfrey levelled the scoring for the visitors just before the hour mark.

It wasn’t until the 90th minute, where a winner from Nicky Dembele sunk Plymouth’s chances of a result, and set Boro’s sails for victory.

Almost a year on, the port cities meet in a battle for 3 points in a tight Southern League Premier South setup.

“There’s a lot at stake - 3 points. That’s a lot to me, all 3 points are important. There’s no local football [this weekend], both Pompey and Havant & Waterlooville are away, and we can hope for a bumper crowd. The fans have been fantastic, we were lucky to get 60 people in the ground, and now we’ve had 650 last Wednesday night, so we must be doing something right. It’s important we keep building on that, and that we keep the momentum going.” Adds Gale.

With Gosport Borough being the only local team entertaining on home turf this Bank Holiday weekend, the fans are encouraged to take advantage and join in the atmosphere to get behind their local side. With two victories out of two games at Privett Park, expectations are high for the crowd to play the role of the 12th man and aid Gale’s team to maintain a 100% home record. What more can the Privett Park faithful do?

“Keep getting behind us and keep making noise. If you’re a football fan, and you saw the standard of football that was played [against Swindon Supermarine], which was very high, you would have gone away thinking ‘I’ll have some more of that!’

There’s more positives to potentially get excited over on the team sheets, too. Whilst the season initiated with a young and inexperienced squad, the gaffer is looking forward to welcoming sidelined senior players back into the team.

“Andreas Robinson got 15 minutes [against Chesham United], he’ll train again Tuesday and Thursday. Kyal Williams looks like he’s also going to be back in training and that’s another plus for us. Bradley Tarbuck, I’m hoping he will also be back in training this week.

“We’re getting a few back and it gives us competition for places but also, we haven’t really played the formation we want to play yet, we’ve had to play what we’ve got with the squad, and it’s probably not how we would prefer to play.

One To Watch
Pompey academy Harry Jewitt-White has impressed on his Gosport Borough loan debut against Swindon Supermarine last week, by opening his Boro’ record with a goal in the 39th minute. Manager Shaun Gale speaks highly of the young Portsmouth loanee who “brings great energy, and he’s been around the [Portsmouth] first team.” HJW will be looking to impress the home crowd once again on Saturday afternoon.

Boro’s ex-blues
With no other local football available on Saturday afternoon, Privett Park is the place to be, especially for Pompey fans. Harry Jewitt-White is not the only element connecting Boro’ to our friends from across the water.

Ryan Woodford
Starting his career at Portsmouth FC in 2008, Woodford wore the number 48 shirt for the Blues. After an initial spell at Boro’ broken up by a stint at Havant & Waterlooville, the centre-back returned to GBFC in June 2019 and won the Supporters’ Player of the Season award in his first year back.

Harry Kavanagh
Kavanagh came through the Pompey academy from the age of 6, and made his Portsmouth debut in 2020 against West Ham United U21s. In 2021 Harry signed for Boro’ and has been a regular player in Gale’s setup.

Harvey Rew
Rew signed his first professional contract with Portsmouth in 2019 and made his debut vs Oxford in the EFL Trophy later that year. In August 2021, Harvey joined Gale’s Gosport Borough side.

Danny Hollands
Danny’s youth career started at Chelsea, and after several stints across clubs in the EFL pyramid, the midfielder made 76 appearances scoring 6 goals for Andy Awford and Paul Cook’s sides. Hollands joined Boro’ from Eastleigh in the summer of 2022, and has since been an integral part of Shaun Gale’s team.

Harrison Brook
Another of Pompey’s academy graduates, Harrison was a regular starter at youth level for the Blues. Brook was handed his senior debut in the EFL Trophy, and later signed for Bognor Regis, before joining Shaun Gale’s side in 2022.

Harry Jewitt-White
The current Portsmouth loanee in the Gosport side. The Welsh youth international has already impressed by opening his scorecard against Swindon Supermarine at Privett Park earlier in the month, and is thought to be an invaluable cog in Shaun Gale’s system.

Issiaga Kaba
Kaba made a professional debut for Pompey at the age of 18 in the EFL Trophy against Crystal Palace U21’s, and signed for Gosport Borough in the summer of 2022.

Bradley Tarbuck
Tarbuck came through the Pompey academy and signed a professional contract in 2012, but returned to the youth setup in 2013, only to score 12 goals and become the club’s top scorer at youth level. He later made his senior debut in 2014 against Carlisle United. After several spells across clubs inside and outside of the EFL, Tarbuck joined Boro’ from local side Havant & Waterlooville in 2020.

Jake Wigley
Wigley was appointed as a first team coach in Kenny Jackett’s setup in 2018, after spending the previous four years coaching at Nottingham Forest. Jake’s affiliation with the Blue’s extended further than playing his part on the coaching side during the League One campaign - with his father Steve having made over 100 appearances for Portsmouth between 1989 and 1992. Wigley joined Shaun Gale’s coaching team at the Boro’ in 2021.

Shaun Gale
The current Boro’ gaffer started his playing career at Portsmouth in 1988, albeit only making a handful of appearances in PO4. He later made 293 professional appearances for Barnet, Exeter City and Havant & Waterlooville over the space of 9 years, and scored 12 goals. The latter is where Gale hung up his boots and took up the role of assistant manager. After 15 years with the Hawks, and a brief spell at Eastbourne Borough, Gale became the first team Manager at Privett Park.

Mark Trapani
Mark is synonymous with Portsmouth Football Club through his efforts in the Portsmouth Supporters Trusts’ (PST) pursuit of community ownership of the club in 2013, as well as being an ex-member on the board of Trustees.

Iain McInnes
Iain is the former chairman of Portsmouth Football Club, and is also synonymous with PST through the efforts to bring the club into community ownership, and played an integral role in saving the club from extinction. In 2017, McInnes became the Owner and Chairman of Gosport Borough Football Club.

Support the Boro’ on Bank Holiday weekend
A loud and impactful atmosphere can be made even more prominent with YOUR help. A sporting family day out, or the need to fill the void of live footy with your friends - Privett Park would love to welcome you aboard the Battle of the Ports.

Tickets to Saturday’s match against Plymouth Parkway can now be purchased from the link below, as well as turnstiles on the day.

https://gosportboroughfc.ktckts.com/event/gos2223h03/gosport-borough-v-plymouth-parkway

Up The Boro’!