Former Hawks and Gosport Borough favourite Brett Poate reflects on his great non-league playing career

Now the former Hawks, Eastleigh, Gosport Borough and Moneyfields defender is hoping he can experience some similar highs as a coach at Dover Road.

After being released by Southampton at the age of 19, Poate could not have imagined what would await him as he forged a playing career in the lower leagues.

Hawks management duo Mick Jenkins and Liam Daish came to his rescue after Poate’s dreams of making it in the professional ranks had been shattered.

But fast forward to 2020 and Poate can boast a Wembley appearance and two promotions with Gosport, a run to the FA Cup fourth round with Havant as well as helping Moneyfields reach Southern League level for the first time in his maiden campaign at the club.

That’s a mighty impressive CV for someone operating in the non-league ranks.

However, there is one occasion that would have even topped turning out at Wembley that will always stick in Poate's mind.

The 36-year-old was sent off in the Hawks' FA Cup third round tie at Swansea, then in League One, 12 years ago.

Poate would set up three of the goals as Shaun Gale's side defeated the three divisions higher Swans 4-2 in a Westleigh Park replay.

The feeling of euphoria quickly turned to anguish when he found out his suspension would force him to miss the Hawks' 5-2 fourth round defeat at Anfield in 2008.

‘Looking back, I had a very good non-league career,' Poate said.

‘To be completely honest, I’ve played at Wembley but I would rather have played at Anfield in front of 43,000 - without a doubt.

‘I’m not going to lie, when they started singing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ I had a tear in my eye where I didn’t play.

‘But, generally speaking, if it wasn’t for me and what happened, we might not have got there.

'We beat York away, we beat Notts County away and then we had Swansea away when I got sent off.

‘But it sort of disrupted the game and their player got sent off as well.

‘In the replay, I set up three of the goals and we won 4-2. I had a good run.’

Poate admitted to believing he was 'too good' for the Hawks when he first joined soon after his Southampton release.

But with the help of some experienced players who'd come from the professional game, the defender eventually adapted to the Conference South level.

And even to this day the North End resident regrets the way he left the club - to link up with Ian Baird at Conference South rivals Eastleigh in the summer of 2009 after more than 230 appearances for the Hawks.

‘I think at the time I joined I thought I was too good for Havant,' admitted Poate.

‘When a lot of players come out of the pro game, you think you’re too good for non-league.

‘But, to be honest, it took me six months or so to get used to it.

‘It finally turned me into more of a man playing men’s football.

‘There were a lot of older pros playing and things like that made me the man I was playing football.

‘There’s not much of that about these days.

‘There were the likes of James Taylor, Liam Daish and Dean Holdsworth.

‘I regret one thing - leaving Havant the way I did under a cloud really.

‘I didn’t agree with some things that were going on at the club, but I’ve got nothing but fond memories.'

Despite his Hawks exit, and struggling during an injury-ravaged two years at Eastleigh, Poate still had some of his best years ahead.

He was recruited by Alex Pike at Gosport, who were about to enjoy the most successful period in the club's history.

Poate won successive promotions with the Privett Park outfit to take them up to National League South level.

He was also part of the team that were beaten 4-0 by Cambridge at Wembley in the 2014 FA Trophy final.

That's after Poate had put one over old club Hawks in the semi-finals.

Despite what a great occasion Wembley was for him and his team-mates, there is something the former Borough man would have done differently in the build-up.

'The day at Wembley was obviously brilliant in front of 20,000,' added Poate.

‘But I think we may have done it a bit wrong. We went up there about three days before and we trained at Reading’s ground at the time.

'We went to Wembley the day before to watch the rugby and we stayed in a hotel for three days.

‘I think it was too much.

‘Looking back, we should have stayed up the night before and turned up on the day.

‘I sort of lost a little bit of the excitement for it, but I still would not change it.

'For a club like us at Gosport, we should never have got to the FA Trophy final like that.

‘But we just had a good cup run and got there.

‘We had good non-league players who knew how to manage a game.

‘We had a really good laugh at Gosport, there were some really good times there.'

Financial troubles would eventually arrive at Privett Park and Poate's career swansong would come at Moneyfields.

He was part of the team that won promotion from the Wessex League in 2016/17, after moving to Dover Road midway through the campaign.

Poate would not get the fitting farewell his playing career deserved with the Southern League curtailed last season because of the coronavirus outbreak.

During the summer, he was appointed to the coaching staff at Moneyfields.

Poate and Moneys are currently on an enforced break with the month-long stoppage at non-elite level with England currently placed under a second lockdown.

He has not ruled out dusting the boots off and returning to the pitch should he be required in the future, though.

On the back of a slow start to 2020/21, there was some light-hearted joking with the squad that he might have to get back on the field to help them out.

But Poate was serious when saying it may become a reality with Moneyfields facing a hectic schedule to get the campaign finished if and when things resume after the lockdown.

‘It’s taken me a little while to get used to standing on the side and not being able to do anything about the game in myself,' he said.

‘It’s been a little bit of an eye-opener with how things run behind the scenes that the players don’t see and stuff.

‘I’ve been getting a little bit itchy feet (about a playing return).

‘But it’s not been too bad. When we weren’t getting the results at one stage we were joking about that I might have to get the boots back out.

‘The boys have been playing well the past few games and it’s a shame we’ve stopped because we were getting into a nice bit of form.

‘With the amount of games that we’re going to have coming up after lockdown, who knows?

‘I might have to get them (the boots) back out because we’re going to have two or three games a week for the rest of the season, so it could hit our squad quite badly.

‘You never know but not for the minute, the boys are doing fine, we’ll see how we go.'