Gosport Borough visit Ladysmead for our final mid-week clash.

Match Preview

Tiverton Town v Gosport Borough

Tuesday April 21st

7.45pm Kick Off

At The Slee Blackwell Solicitors Stadium

In the penultimate game of the season, the Yellows’ will host Gosport in a fixture that originally fell victim to the weather on valentine's day back in February. The reverse fixture saw Tiverton edged out 3-2 back in November, after leading 2-1.

Jacob Wellington, Steve Orchard (Assistant Manager), & Saturdays goalscoarer George Collins. (Viv Curtis)

Boro's play off hopes may have bitten the dust, but Saturday's away victory at relegation threatened Evesham indicates that the Hampshire side want to finish this season as high as possible in the Southern League Premier South table. They're residing in 8th place as it stands.

It’s two back-to-back home games for the Yellows’ to finish, as pride in performance takes precedence over results. I’m sure though that the players have every intention to give their all, in front of a loyal fan base that hasn’t stopped getting behind the team in this challenging campaign.

Injuries have hampered Asa Hall’s already depleted squad in April, so it was heartening to see Gabe Billington and Brooklyn Wilkins back in yellow on Saturday versus Basingstoke. Tiverton competed well in a 3-1 defeat.

Danny Hollands, a key player for Gosport, took over the managerial reins at the back end of last season, but his tenure only lasted until the end of October. A restructure saw ex Dorchester boss Glenn Howes take over at that point.

However, ahead of the weekend victory at Evesham it was announced that there had been a mutual parting of the ways. with Howes moving on. A run of four losses seeing a well placed Boro fall out of contention for the end of season play-offs.

Members of the outgoing Howes's coaching team Mark Summerhill and Zak Sharp have been installed as interim managers and they got off to a winning start on Saturday. Summerhill has filled the caretaker role previously at Gosport and used to manage Petersfield Town.

They have a strong squad of players to choose from;

Ethan Taylor is a striker who arrived from promoted Totton in the off season. He played close to 200 games for Boro's local rivals and the talented frontman has a return of 12 goals from 35 games this term. Taylor had a brief spell at Gosport in the 2019/20 campaign.

Fellow marksman Hisham Kasimu is on loan from Totton and the gifted forward played for them earlier in his playing career. A few seasons at Farnborough and a stint with Enfield in National South, make Kasimu a strong proposition in this level of football.

Goalscoring winger Michael Fernandes has an abundance of Southern League Premier South pedigree and is a skilful player with match winning abilities, who once scored a hat-trick against us for Swindon Supermarine. The 26 year old has also played for Hayes & Yeading, Farnborough, Salisbury and Hungerford.

35 year old midfielder/striker Dan Wooden is a dying breed, a proper clubman. Making in excess of 300 appearances for Gosport, he first played for them in 2010 and for 13 seasons he has served the club. Representing them in Conference South, he is mostly utilised as a midfielder these days, but has scored well over 100 goals for the club.

A Long term absentee is winger Trevor Caborn. The dangerous, pacy and well balanced former Winchester City player has been out for a while. 

Joining him on the treatment table recently is Jordan Ngalo. The powerful driving Box to Box midfield player started this season at National South Salisbury and this was a shrewd acquisition by Boro in signing him midway through the season. Starting at Weymouth, the 27 yr old was a big player for Dorchester.

The hardworking and talented midfielder Brad Tarbuck is another strong player at this level. He made a handful of appearances for Portsmouth at the start of his senior career. The 30 year old is close to the milestone of 200 games for Gosport and also played over 100 times for Havant & Waterlooville, though he picked up an injury against Evesham.

Defender/midfielder Joe Oastler spent over half of this season with Totton, for whom he had been a hugely inspirational figure in their recent success. 

Looking back over the 35 year old’s long successful career. He made a Championship appearance for QPR and then went on to play 113 times in League Two for Torquay. His pedigree saw him become a pivotal non league player, for the likes of; Aldershot, Oxford City, Gosport(in a first spell) and Havant & Waterlooville.

Centre Back Charlie Wassmer is another that comes with a notable CV. Playing the EFL with Crawley Town and Dagenham & Redbridge and additionally in the Conference for Crawley, Cambridge United, Fleetwood, Hayes & Yeading and Maidstone.

The commanding 35 year old defender, has strong leadership and organisational skills also. Wassmer's football journey took him to Gosport on loan from Hayes and Yeading initially, in the 2022/23 campaign. Permanently signing the next season and remaining with the club.

23 year old Left Back, Ben Greenwood's early football development was spent in Bournemouth’s academy. As a young Pro with the Cherries, he made a cup appearance for the Premier League team. On his release he signed for Weymouth and is currently on loan from Farnborough.

Jordan Stepney has played for three different clubs in this division. The highly rated defender arrived at Privett Park after starting the season with Farnham and then moving onto Uxbridge. In possession of the gloves is Lucas Thomas, who is on loan from Luton Town and the young goalkeeper is highly regarded by his parent club.

The team will face another stern challenge on Tuesday night and will have to play to their maximum, if they are to upset our visitors. So let’s get down to the ground and get behind the lad's.