‘I feel flat, I feel like we’ve under-achieved’ – US Portsmouth boss Glenn Turnbull left ‘absolutely gutted’ by FA Vase semi-final heartbreak

Jack Chandler about to see his penalty saved. Picture: Martyn White.

USP were beaten 4-3 on penalties by Hellenic League Premier Division side Binfield after it had finished 1-1 in normal time.

Both Cameron Quirke and Jack Chandler saw spot-kicks saved by ChrisGrace in the shoot-out as they fell at the final hurdle.

US Portsmouth stood just 10 minutes away from Wembley with James Franklyn firing them ahead after 21 minutes.

USP goalkeeper Tom Price saves from Binfield's Sean Moore in the shoot-out, a miss that gave his side a 3-2 lead. Picture: Martyn White

However, Liam Ferdinand forced penalties, levelling things up for Binfield on 80 minutes.

Turnbull, whose team came through seven rounds to reach the semi-final, was 'gutted' after coming so close to a fairytale final.

And his overriding emotion in the aftermath of such a devastating defeat was that his team had 'under-achieved' - despite the fact they'd overcome six higher division sides in seven rounds on the way to the last four.

Turnbull said: 'I'm gutted, just absolutely gutted.

'Don't get me wrong, I don't think we deserved to win - we weren't the better side.

'They were arguably the better side, they hit the post and the bar.

'But being 1-0 up with 10 minutes to go we should have been able to cancel it out.

'It was a mistake (for their goal) down in their right-back area, we gave the ball away when we could have looked after it a little bit.

'It was a long ball down, two mistakes on the edge of our area and they score from it, so for all their possession and how good they were we gave them the goal. I'm just gutted really.

'I know people say that will come in time (pride in the run), but right now I feel flat and I feel like we've under-achieved.

'We'll pick ourselves up, we've got to pick ourselves up, we've got another semi-final next Saturday.'

USP host Bemerton Heath Harlequins next weekend for a place in the Wessex League Cup final for the first time in their history.

For the best US Portsmouth v Binfield coverage, don’t miss Monday’s edition of The News.