Alex Pike’s men had effectively wrapped this game up inside the first quarter of an hour and proceeded to record a comfortable 6-0 win.

An early goal salvo ended this re-arranged cup tie as a contest.

Before 20 minutes had passed, Perry Ryan, George Barker (pictured) and Dan Wooden had already found the back of the Cowes net and further first half strikes from Justin Bennett and Ryan Woodford meant they were out of sight at the break.

However this didn't reflect the enthusiastic performance offered by the Wessex League visitors who gave an excellent account of themselves on a difficult surface and had their chances.

The second half was a quiet affair, as both sides traded substitutions with one of Boro’s, Rowan Vine, rounding off the scoring with a sixth near the end.

Gosport handed a senior debut to the club’s Academy goalkeeper Lewis Watch as Alex Pike shuffled his pack ahead of the National League South trip to Margate at the weekend.

Starting berths were also handed to Elliott Wheeler, Perry Ryan and most notably Ben Harding, who finally ended a lengthy spell on the side lines with injury.

The game got underway on an exceptionally sodden but playable pitch, which needed almost two hours of maintenance by volunteers to get it ready after an afternoon of heavy rain left it bordering on unplayable.

But match referee, Tony Foster, showed great patience and flexibility. The Fareham based official, allowed the hard working group the maximum time possible to clear the surface water and prevent Cowes' journey being wasted. The late arrival of the visitors also helped, with the game kicking off quarter of an hour late.

After all the hard work was complete and the wellington boots and garden forks had been put away, Boro' raced into a three goal lead inside the first twenty minutes.

Perry Ryan got them up and running, turning in a George Barker cross. Barker then turned from provider to scorer not long afterwards as he supplied the second.

Good work from Rory Williams down a saturated left flank set up Dan Wooden, who hammered home the third.

Justin Bennett added the fourth on the half hour, racing through a static Cowes defence to score a trademark goal.

The visitors managed to break out of their half sporadically but presented no threat to the home side at that point.

The Yachtsmen simply couldn’t contain a rampant Gosport who were on the money and up for the game. A fifth goal was not long in coming as Ryan Woodford converted a cross at the far post.

Cowes had their first serious chance on the stoke of half time with Wilson finding himself one-on-one with Watch but the young keeper did well to close him down with the help of Andy Robinson.

Boro' made a half time change with Ben Harding making way for Steve Ramsey and shortly afterwards, TJ Cuthbertson was introduced for Elliott Wheeler.

Ollie Wilson produced Cowes’ best moment of the game with a good effort from just outside the area but Watch made an excellent save.

Gosport had taken their foot off the gas a little and the Wessex League team had a golden opportunity to pull one back. Substitute James Wykes managed to escape the clutches of the Boro' defence but he fired wide with the goal at his mercy.

Rowan Vine added the sixth with thirteen minutes remaining as Gosport resumed their goal hunt.

In a slightly comical moment, Dan Wooden was left a little red faced with three minutes left. Rory Williams picked him out with a delightful defence splitting pass, leaving the former Moneyfields man with an open goal but he managed to steer the ball wide from less than two yards out.

It was irrelevant in the grand scheme of things as Boro' gently eased through into the quarter finals of the competition where they make the short trip to Sholing early next year.

Furthermore, Alex Pike would see this game as excellent preparation for the tough weekend assignment back in the National League when Gosport visit Margate hoping to make it five consecutive league wins.