Gosport Borough's possible conundrum for crunch Metropolitan Police clash - and boss Shaun Gale explains Czech Republic midfielder's absence in Portsmouth Senior Cup quarter-final triumph over US Portsmouth

Boro will have to make late calls on their midfield pairing of Mike Carter (hamstring) and Forest Green loanee Luke Hallett (ankle) prior to the visit to face Surrey-based Metropolitan Police.

Such is Gale's shortage of central midfield options at present, centre-half Ryan Woodford was asked to partner versatile Harvey Rew in the middle of the park as Gosport reached the Portsmouth Senior Cup semi-finals with a 4-0 last-eight home win over Wessex Portsmouth last night.

With Josh Huggins rested and Elliott Wheeler still sidelined for several weeks, the Boro boss is keen to have both Carter and Hallett available to him this weekend.

The fixture at Metropolitan Police is another crunch clash for sixth-placed Gosport - currently two points off the top-five - as they aim to secure a first win of the season over a side sitting in the division's top-three at present.

Gale said: ‘I played Ryan Woodford in midfield last night (against US Portsmouth) because I literally had one central midfield player available to me.

‘I’m desperate for a central midfield player because Mike Carter (hamstring) picked up a bit of a knock at the weekend, I didn’t want to risk Josh Huggins and Luke Hallett is injured and couldn't play as he’s a loan anyway.

‘We’ll leave that to the last minute, we’ll see with Carts (Mike Carter for the Met Police trip). It’s not a bad one, he felt his hamstring, we took him off as a precaution (against Harrow), I’m hopeful he’ll be okay.

‘Luke Hallett also missed the game last weekend with an ankle injury, we’ll wait on him as well, they’re big misses.’

Rew, employed in central midfield for the night, set Gosport on the way to victory over US Portsmouth with a second-minute opener last night.

Striker Matt Paterson then added a second-half double - the first of which coming from the penalty spot - before Mason Walsh rounded off the scoring in the 4-0 quarter-final victory.

Gale had spoken of his desire to include Czech Republic midfielder Alexander Barsa in the match-day squad against USP.

But the Boro boss revealed why the 21-year-old, who has been training with the club for the past few months, was absent on the night.

Gale added: ‘The lad from the Czech Republic (Alexander Barsa) - I got told before the game he wasn’t available after being told he was – so I wasn’t too happy with that because I felt for the kid. He missed the deadline when he actually signed for the Portsmouth Cup. He was available to play in the Southern League just not for the Portsmouth Senior Cup.’

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