Sholing 2-1 AFC Portchester
Scorers : Dan Mason 4, Lee Wort 38 / Felipe Barcelos 66
Date: Friday 19 August 2022, 7:45pm – Emirates FA Cup Preliminary Round
Venue: Imperial Homes Stadium
Sholing : Ryan Gosney, Brad Targett (Ryan Cluett 90), Marv McLean, Rob Flooks, Dan Miller, Rob Nicholls, Lee Wort, Byron Mason © (Owen Roundell 44), Dan Mason, Sami Makhloufi, Charlie Wagstaffe. Unused subs : Josh Batt, Conor Whiteley, Dom Panesar-Dower, Dean Frampton, Wayne Robinson
Bookings : Brad Targett, Ryan Gosney, Marv McLean
AFC Portchester : Steven Mowthorpe, Olly Searle, Liam Robinson (Ashton Leigh 75), Conor Bailey, Curtis Da Costa (Marley Ridge 75), Sam Pearce, James Cowan, Jake Raine, Brett Pitman ©, Felipe Barcelos, Ryan Wilkins. Unused subs : George Barker, Archie Greenough, Tyler Giddings, Charlie Williamson, Elliot Wheeler
Bookings : ?
Attendance: 394
Referee : Jack Hussey Assistants : Andrew Jones & Cameron Davis
Dansach Man of the Match : Rob Nicholls
The Deadly Duo of Dan Mason & Lee Wort took their combined Sholing total to 510 goals as the Boatmen advanced in the FA Cup.
Team News : Sholing were unchanged again as we played our 3rd game in 6 days. Wessex League, AFC Portchester, are from a league below us, but with plenty of players in their squad who have played at Southern League level, as well as former professional, Brett Pitman, who scored an impressive 182 goals in the Football League for clubs such as AFC Bournemouth, Bristol City, Ipswich Town & Portsmouth.
Before kick-off, presentations of Sholing Caps were made to Dave Diaper for 1,100+ games in charge, Marv McLean for 700+ appearances & Byron Mason for 650+ appearances.
There was a big crowd for the Friday night fixture, including a large number of local players & managers, intrigued by this cup clash of two strong teams. Boatmen got off to the perfect start, taking the lead on 4 minutes, when Lee Wort broke into the box, got to the byline and crossed for his strike partner, DAN MASON to flick the ball in at the near post.
Game went through a quiet spell after the goal, Gosney made a routine save and Marv McLean was doing his usual tormenting of the full back down the left, but no decent chances came either sides way until the 27th minute when Gos turned a shot around his near post.
Sholing doubled our lead on 38 mins and it was what every Portchester fan was fearing, LEE WORT scoring against his former team. Rob Nicholls did well to win the ball and then knock it into the path of Wort, who raced into the box on the right and drilled a perfectly placed low shot across Mowthorpe and in off the far post.
There was a blow to the Boatmen a minute before half time when Byron went down clutching his thigh and was replaced by Owen Roundell. Sholing went into the break in command of the cup tie. HT 2-0
Boatmen went hunting for the killer third goal early in the second half, some nice link up play ended with D-Dan chesting the ball to Worty, but he smashed his shot wide. More good football saw Brad Targett race forward, feed Sami on the overlap and his ball into the box was met by Lee Wort, who was denied by the keeper. Sholing midfield duo of Rob Nicholls and Charlie Wagstaffe were having great games, breaking up attacks and sending us forward.
The best chance to put the game to bed fell to Dan Mason on 65 mins, who did well to hound a Portchester defender around the box, win the ball off him and left one-on-one with the keeper, but he seemed in two minds and his clipped effort from 12 yards went agonisingly wide of the upright.
It looked like it might be a costly miss as out of nothing, AFC Portchester got a goal back a minute later. A straight ball down the middle ended up with Felipe Barcelos in on goal and he buried it into the corner. As you would expect, this got "Porchy" believing again and they suddenly looked a different side to the one the Sholing defence had comfortably handled up to that point.
On 68 minutes, from a corner, Ryan Gosney did superbly to tip over a close range volley. Then a few minutes later we were again indebted to his reflexes when he looked to be wrong footed, but changed direction to push the ball around the foot of the post.
Sholing were still an attacking threat, on 75 mins, Birthday "Boy" Marv, once again gave the defence twisted blood as he cut inside, but his shot was saved down by his post by the keeper. Then from a corner, Rob Flooks climbed highest, but his flick header curled away from goal.
The game would enter added time, with 9 minutes ending up being played. Boatmen were putting bodies on the line in a scramble in the 6 yard box which ended with Gosney pouncing on the loose ball.
Then an incredible passage of play in the final minute. There was a bit of pushing between Pitman & Roundell, which meant Gos was blocked from clearing the ball. The ref got involved and after seemingly getting decision making assistance from Pitman, gave Portchester an indirect freekick a few yards inside of the Sholing box ! The ball was touched to Pitman, who blasted it over the bar, but the ref said it had taken a deflection (?!) and pointed to the corner. With all 22 players in the box, the corner fell to Portchester keeper Steve Mowthorpe, who tried to hit it with his swinger, but could only slice it away from goal, the ball was cleared and the final whistle blew! FT 2-1
Byron Mason : 3 games in 6 days & the performance wasn’t great, but it’s a cup game and we got the W and that’s all that counts
Dan Mason : Tonight wasn't pretty and I should of made it alot easier for us with the 3rd, but we got the job done!
Boatmen will find out on Monday who we will face in the First Qualifying Round on Saturday 3rd September.
Next Game : Sholing v Evesham United - Saturday 27 August 3pm - Southern League
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