‘I might have over-hyped the occasion’ – Gosport boss Shaun Gale on Borough’s dramatic FA Cup victory against Plymouth Parkway

Gale is certainly no stranger to the big occasion - having managed Hawks at Anfield - while Boro coach Graham Rix has won the FA Cup three times in his playing and managerial career.

But even a first qualifying round tie against lower division Parkway, in front of a 555 crowd at Privett Park, was a new experience for many in a youthful Boro squad.

The visitors, even after playing most of the second half with 10 men, looked like claiming a draw - and a midweek replay Boro would not have welcomed at all - that any neutral would say they fully deserved.

But Nick Dembele emerged as the day’s hero, crashing a low 20-yarder past the despairing dive of keeper Kyle Moore in the 90th minute before sprinting across the pitch in delight towards the home dugout.

Had Gale possessed more attacking options on his bench - the only one, Pat Suraci, was introduced as early as the fifth minute - then Dembele, who to be fair had turned in a frustrating display, might not have even been on the pitch.

Nationwide FA Cup stories have emerged from such dramatic moments. Only last season, Marine needed a last-minute winner to beat the unknown Barnoldswick in a preliminary round tie; a few months later they were hosting Tottenham in the third round.

Asked if he had enjoyed Gosport’s first cup tie of 2021/22, Gale replied: ‘Not really - the most important thing I enjoyed was winning the game at the end.

‘I think the occasion got to a few of the lads.

‘There was a big crowd, expectations were high - we were home and expected to win.

‘The likes of Bert White, Luke Hallett, Harvey Rew, they wouldn’t have experienced anything like that before.

‘Joe Lea, even … Nick Dembele, he’s still a young boy. It was an extremely young side for the level we’re playing at. They (Parkway) had more experience than we did.

‘We chose to put in our worst performance of the season - it was definitely that - but we stuck to the task.

‘The most important thing is we’re still in the hat and the younger players will have learnt from that and will be much better for the experience.

‘Their manager said to me afterwards ‘you were terrible today’ - I agreed with him but they still had to be better than us to win and they weren’t.

‘We looked nervous early on, they had a few corners, but Bert never really had a save to make and we gave them their goal.

‘I said to the boys after we will need to be a lot better, and I’m sure we will be.

Gale felt his pre-match words contributed to a nervous - sloppy, in places - performance.

‘Maybe I should take some of the blame, as I’d hyped the game up,’ he remarked.

‘All week we had been saying to the players how big a game this was and how important it was to try and have a cup run.

‘I’m 51 and some of my players are 18, they haven’t experienced that pressure. Perhaps we needed to remember that, but I like to think I’m always learning as a manager. Maybe we over-hyped it and won’t do the same next time.

‘I’ve had to bring in some youngsters because of injuries and you have to accept with youngsters you can get performances like yesterday. But we got away with it and they will learn massively from it.’

Against the run of play, Gosport had taken a first half lead through a penalty confidently struck by debutant Theo Widdrington.

The central midfielder has joined Boro on a three-month loan from Hawks, where his last competitive appearance last February had resulted in a red card against Ebbsfleet and a three-match ban.

Gale had signed him on a few days earlier, but had not wanted to make the move public in order to spring a late surprise on Parkway.

While Widdrington was included, Borough were without midfielder Theo Lewis who was unavailable. Another ex-Hawk, Tarbuck, was then forced off with a groin injury after just five minutes.

‘He’s not been playing for Havant, they made him available, and it was a no brainer for me,’ said Gale of his latest signing.

‘Theo is relatively experienced, even at 22, and he’s something different to what we’ve got.

‘He did well, but he’s not properly fit yet because he hasn’t been playing. He will get better because he will get fitter.

‘He was brave enough to take the penalty. We hadn’t talked about it, the lads sorted it out amongst themselves. And to be fair, it was a great penalty - three goalkeepers wouldn’t have stopped it.

‘Theo Lewis was unavailable and we did miss him. I brought Ryan Woodford back … Matt Casey was unlucky to miss out but I just thought we needed Ryan’s experience back there.

‘They pumped in a lot of long balls which Ryan and Matt Briggs dealt with - the only one they didn’t led to the goal.’

Gale is now hoping fans will keep on coming back to Privett Park after Boro continued their promising start to the season.

‘The crowd was one of the best for several years, the support from the fans was good,’ he said. ’People went away having seen a Gosport team win again - that’s what they want.

‘That’s five wins in six matches this season, and it’s not easy winning football matches at any level - be it the Wessex League, the Premier League or our league.’

Next up is a visit from lower division Winchester City in the Southern League Cup at Privett Park on Wednesday.

There are also three home Southern League Premier South home games this month - Yate next Saturday and Tiverton and Wimborne towards the end of September.

‘I won’t diss the Winchester game but the Yate match is my priority,’ said Gale.

‘But we want to beat Winchester - winning games breeds confidence.’