Friday night cup fever – Barcelos at the double as AFC Portchester set up evening FA Cup trip to Southampton

The striker netted in each half to give the Royals a 2-0 extra preliminary qualifying round win at Hellenic Leaguers Corsham.

Victory gave Portchester a £1,125 cheque and an attractive tie at Southern League Sholing.

That means a quick reunion for Sholing legend Lee Wort, who rejoined the club in the summer after netting 40 league and cup goals for Portchester last term.

Sholing secretary Greg Dickson was at Corsham and provisionally agreed with Royals boss Dave Carter to bring the tie, initially scheduled for Saturday August 20, forward to the Friday evening.

That way, it avoids clashing with Southampton’s home Premier League game with Brentford.

It also means Sholing don’t have to worry about any stray cricket balls landing on the pitch - they share their facilities, owned by the VT Group, with a cricket club until the latter’s season ends in late August.

‘I asked (Sholing) boss Dave Diaper about playing on the Friday and he said it was a no-brainer,’ Dickson told The News.

‘It’s a no brainer for me. We’d be hoping for a crowd of around 400-500 - it’s a bigger game than Southampton v Brentford!’

Barcelos – who played for Moneyfields under Carter back in 2018/19 – fired Portchester into a second minute lead at Corsham after a Brett Pitman shot had been parried by the home keeper.

Though the visitors dominated in terms of chances, they had to wait until late on when Pitman set up Barcelos for a second.

The Swindon-based Barcelos had helped out with regards pre-match info on Corsham - he knows the manager of the team Corsham had played the week before!

‘We played well,’ reported Carter. ‘We were right on it for the first 40 minutes, right on it.

‘If you’re being picky, we could have been two or three up at half-time.

‘They only really had a chance in the 91st minute which James Cowan headed off the line.’

The Sholing tie will be the first of two games for Portchester against Southern League opposition in the space of five days - the following Tuesday they face AFC Totton in the Hampshire Senior Cup.

While the Royals have played two competitive games already in 2022/23, Sholing have yet to play any - their Southern League campaign starts against Slimbridge next weekend.