Beaten Borough can't wait for season to end

Mick Catlin can't wait to get the season done and dusted with as Gosport Borough continue to struggle.
Gosport Borough midfielder Mike Carter    Picture: Ian HargreavesGosport Borough midfielder Mike Carter    Picture: Ian Hargreaves
Gosport Borough midfielder Mike Carter Picture: Ian Hargreaves

With just one game left to play it can’t come soon enough for Borough’s assistant boss.

A tired looking Gosport faded badly against Eastbourne Borough to lose 3-0 at Priory Lane in National League South.

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‘We battled away up until half-time and were quite pleased with our first 45 minutes,’ said Catlin.

‘Once their first goal went in, though, our heads dropped and we didn’t look like recovering.

‘We looked really tired and the season is taking a heavy toll on our small squad.

‘For us it is just a question of stumbling over the finishing line with what we have got left.

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‘To make matters worse we also lost Mike Carter with a hamstring injury and he is unlikely to play again this season.

‘The worst we can finish is 11th and the best in ninth place.’

Borough had an escape in the first half when home forward Nathaniel Pinney scuffed his shot allowing Ryan Woodford to clear off his own goalline.

Visiting goalkeeper George Legg also produced a fine save to deny Jake Sheppard in a one-on-one situation.

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Tom Dunford went closest for Borough with a header that forced a spectacular save from home keeper Lewis Carey.

The hosts broke the deadlock in the 54th minute when Sheppard fired a fierce angled drive past Legg and into the net.

Eight minutes later Jake Taylor extended the home side’s lead with another spectacular strike.

Taylor completed Borough’s misery with a third goal for the hosts when he converted a Darren Lok cross.

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Catlin said: ‘The aim now is to try and win our final league game of the season to give us some confidence going into an end-of-season cup final.

‘Once we get the season over with we can sit down and see where the club is heading and what the ambitions are.

‘Then we can start to look at questions like who we want to keep and who is leaving the club.

‘The only consolation is that thanks to all the points we accumulated earlier in the season we are still in National League South.

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‘It is a tough unforgiving league and it is no mean achievement that we will have a fourth consecutive season at this level.

‘All we want to do is finish the season and get it out of the way.’

Borough end their league campaign against Hayes & Yeading at Privett Park next Saturday.

After that they are due to meet local rivals AFC Portchester in the Russell Cotes Cup final at Wicor Rec on Tuesday, May 3.

Gosport Borough: Legg, Cuthbertson, Williams (May 66), Carter (Hoare 79), Woodford, Pearce, Dunford (Harding 57), Higgins, Wooden, Bennett, Wilde