Home ties for US Portsmouth and Fareham Town in the first round proper of the FA Vase

Their reward for a stunning 2-1 success at AFC Portchester is a home tie with the Royals’ divisional rivals Bournemouth Poppies on October 31.

Fareham Town, who bead Badshot Lea 3-0 on penalties at the weekend, have also been drawn at home to Bristolians Roman Glass St George.

‘It’s not as bad as it could be,’ said US boss Glenn Turnbull. ‘It could have been better, but overall it’s a game where we’ve got a chance.’

Bournemouth are 10th in the Wessex Premier, with eight points from seven matches.

Their only two wins, though, were against two of the bottom three clubs, Amesbury and Shaftesbury.

Against that, they were thrashed 8-0 at Lymington and 5-2 at Horndean.

Poppies progressed to the first round proper with a penalty shoot-out win over divisional rivals Blackfield & Langley.

That was their third shoot-out of 2020/21, and their first win - having lost to lower division Andover Town in the Wessex League Cup and higher division Basingstoke Town in the FA Cup.

St George, the oldest club in Bristol, are currently mid-table in the Western League Premier.

They have won four of their nine league games and lost the other five, including a 4-1 home loss to Westbury United, the team who dumped Horndean out of the Vase at the weekend.

St George’s main dangerman is striker Ben Bament.

He was the Western League’s top scorer in 2018/19 with Bitton, and last season was the leading marksman for Paulton Rovers in the Southern League Division 1 South.

Petersfield Town’s reward for a penalty shoot-out win at Farnham is another away tie - at Clapton FC.

The Plaistow-based club play at step 5 in the Essex Senior League, while the Rams - like USP - are at step 6.

Clapton have yet to win in their league, drawing four and losing twice.

The winners of the first round ties will bank £825, and the losers £250.

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US return to Wessex League Division 1 action on Tuesday at Romsey Town.

Turnbull is desperate to avoid a case of ‘after the Lord Mayor’s Show’ at The Bypass Ground.

‘I’ll need to keep the players’ feet on the ground,’ he stated.

‘Just because we’ve beaten AFC Portchester doesn’t mean we just turn up for league games thinking we’re going to win.

‘It doesn’t work like that.’

US have lost two of their opening five league games - compared to losing only four out of 28 in 2019/20 prior to lockdown.

One of their 20 league wins was a 5-1 success at Romsey in January where they scored all their goals inside the opening half-hour.