Gosport came into this one making four changes from the side that lost to Uxbridge. Two changes com midfield as Harvey Rew and Adam Tomasso both started. Dan Wooden, who had a lot of history in this fixture , came in for Hisham Kasimu up top.

Six minutes into the game Gosport came close when Dan intercepted a sloppy pass from Thorpe midway inside the hosts’ half and laid it off to Michael Fernandes in space down the left. It looked like he took too many touches running into the HWFC box, but in the end he got off his shot, which was too powerful and wide.

On twelve minutes the Hawks’ took the lead, albeit against the run of play. Former BORO’ man Harvey Laidlaw won possession forty yards out and opted to place a diagonal cross into the Gosport box as opposed to running forward with the ball. It turned out to be the correct option as Alfy Whittingham ran onto the end of it to nod home for the hosts.

Skip forward eighteen minutes, in which Gosport enjoyed some good spells of possession and in that time they won themselves a free-kick, thirty yards out which was left of centre after Fernandes was bought down. Ben Greenwood was behind the set-piece and curled it into the mixer, running through the box and flying past goalkeeper Kerbey. Joe Morrison went sliding in at the back post in a last ditch stab at goal but was placed too deep to turn his shot on target.

The last five minutes consisted of shots being bombarded at the BORO’ goal. It started on forty minutes when Ryan Seager was played in behind the Gosport backline. Rather than going for goal himself, the prolific Nu9 attempted to cut back to Whittingham but Joe Oastler did extremely well to slide in and turn it out for a corner.

Next came several corners which all created problems for Gosport but notably the third one came the closest. Brendan Willson got on to the end of one of Laidlaw’s deliveries and steered towards goal, Lucas Thomas reacted quickly to make the stop.

Just as Gosport think they’ve cleared, the home side came forward again in another attack. Once again Whittingham and Seager at the centre of it, with the goalscorer this time looking to set up Seager but similar to the last attack, it resulted with Oastler sliding in and making another crucial clearance to deny the striker from taking a shot.

Half-Time | Havant & Waterlooville 1-0 Gosport Borough.

The supporters at Westleigh Park thought HWFC had got their second just two minutes after the interval when Whittingham got on Thomas’ rebound, after the Gosport keeper denied Pendlebury’s powerful shot. Whittingham rifled it in but was caught in an offside position.

Instead we had to wait four minutes for this lead to be cushioned. Laidlaw on the byeline did well to cross a ball which found Whittingham unmarked in the six yard box. He simply headed home to send the Hawks’ soaring.

Lucas Thomas needed to make a big stop on sixty minutes to keep out Seager. This time Bromley loanee, Freddie Taylor threaded a ball through into Seager, putting him in a one-on-one against the Gosport Nu1. Thomas came out quickly and by the time Seager took his shot, the Luton loanee was there and had made himself big to make the save.

Seven minutes later Seager did beat Thomas after running at goal, rounding the keeper but Adam Tomasso tracked with the striker and kept with him, forcing him to prevent his shot. Seager, did however cut back to teammate Pendlebury and he went for goal but Oastler threw himself infront of the shot to block.

Gosport did come close to getting one back when Michael Fernandes had a shot from just outside the Hawks’ box hit the crossbar.

It was ultimately the hosts’ who would get the next goal though. Another attack resulted with the ball not being cleared by Gosport and instead bundled in from close range by Whittingham for his hat-trick.

Fosu nearly scored with his first shot for the home side when he came on. He finessed a shot on target which forced Thomas into making another superb save, to tip away.

The cherry on the cake for the home side was when Fosu strode down the left hand channel and played a forward pass into Ryan Seager. Despite struggling all afternoon when in the final third, he made no mistake from this opportunity, bending a fine strike with clashed off the far post and into the back of the net.

Full-Time | Havant & Waterlooville 4-0 Gosport Borough.

We next look ahead to a home game against Yate Town on Saturday, so we’ll see you then. But final words from me: UP THE BORO!!!