Coming into this game there was so much to play for, with both teams desperate for the win to move themselves closer to securing a playoff position. Gosport made two changes to the starting XI with Brad Tarbuck and Harry Kavanagh both added to the team.

It was the visitors who made the early start in this one. Jake McCarthy on the edge of the penalty area, chopped inside of Ben Greenwood before curling one into the far corner to give his side the advantage a minute into the game.

Brad Tarbuck may have felt he could have done better when he half-volleyed a shot at goal from inside the penalty box on eighteen minutes. With just the goal infront of him, the winger got a bit too much behind the shot and smashed over.

On twenty-six minutes, perhaps fortuitously, Gosport won themselves a penalty. This came after Joe Rabbetts was adjudged to have brought down Hisham Kasimu before he could get across his shot. Kasimu, who won the penalty, stood up to take it and cooly swept it into the bottom right as the keeper dived the wrong way, giving Kasimu his sixth ten games.

Sam Magri came mighty close to scoring a stunner ten minutes before the break when a progressive run took him thirty yards out. The experienced defender opted for a shot from distance which fizzed across the Gosport crossbar.

Half-Time | Gosport Borough 1-1 Sholing FC

Kasimu pounced on a Turner mistake five minutes into the second half, which allowed him to steal the ball from the Sholing keeper right of the penalty box. The striker looked for goal but skied his effort way over.

Sholing restored their lead with twenty minutes left on the clock through substitute Tommy-Lee Higgs. The Boatmen’s skipper Jake Hesketh showed some great footwork to keep hold of the ball on the edge of the box before picking out Higgs, who was there to stab home his effort.

The visitors largely managed to nullify the threat of Gosport in the final twenty minutes thanks to some smart changes and the relentless blockade of their defence, which saw the game finish:

Full-Time | Gosport Borough 1-2 Sholing.

With Sholing and Chertsey, who are also in the race for the playoffs, picking up vital wins, it piles the pressure on Gosport to keep up with them now. Up next an away trip to Bracknell, so we’ll see you then. But final words from me: UP THE BORO!!!

A magnificent crowd of over 1,100 attended the game…..Thank you

Picture by Jack Aldridge