Gosport Borough put Merthyr to the sword and display ruthless side manager Shaun Gale has been demanding

Boro had five different scorers with Theo Lewis and Mason Walsh - his first goal for the club - both striking in the first half to put the hosts on their way to a thumping 5-0 win at Privett Park.

It was the turn of striker Dan Wooden, substitute Nick Dembele and Luke Hallett to net after the restart as Gosport were rampant.

The superb showing represented just the third time in 10 league wins this term Boro have won by more than a single goal margin.

Only in victories over Chesham (3-0) and at Dorchester (2-0) had Gale's men previously come out on top by more than one goal.

And the Boro boss was delighted his troops implemented the ruthless streak he has been asking of his players in recent weeks.

Gale said: ‘You know what, it’s been coming I think. I’ve asked the lads to be more ruthless - on Thursday night in training we tried to work on bits and pieces - we’re trying to get people in good areas - we’ve got some good quality around - we’re not punishing teams.

‘It was a difficult game (against Merthyr) to start with because they came here and made it awkward for us.

‘You’ve got to beat what's in front of you, we get a goal, then we get another one - it was 2-0 at half time - I said to the lads at half time the worst case was we ended with a 2-0 win. I wanted a clean sheet and I thought it was important to keep a clean sheet - we don’t want to keep giving soft goals away.’

It was a day of several positives for Gosport with new signing Bedsente Gomis getting through 66 minutes, striker Matt Paterson got more minutes off the bench as he continues to make progress having returned from a long term knee injury while Gale could even afford to bring off winger Bradley Tarbuck and Theo Lewis ahead of Wednesday's league visit of Kings Langley.

Gale added: ‘It was a fantastic performance. I’ve got a great group of lads to work with, there are some youngsters out there - they make mistakes at times - but you can’t ask anymore.

‘I was pleased for Luke Hallett to get the goal at the end because I thought his performance was excellent again - as everyone was.’