‘If this is the future, it’s looking ok’ – youngsters impress as Moneyfields avoid Hampshire Senior Cup banana skin

Pacy right wing-back Chad Cornwell celebrated his first senior start for the club by setting up both goals in the 2-0 victory over lower division Andover New Street at Dover Road in midweek.

Carrying on from his early-season displays in Moneys’ table-topping Hampshire Premier League Senior Division team, Cornwell was chosen as the sponsors’ man of the match.

Elsewhere, Danny Burroughs grabbed the first goal on his first appearance for the first team in 2021/22 and Josh Bailey got on the end of a Cornwell cross to head in his first senior goal on only his second sub outing.

Bailey took advantage of a first team chance with injuries to strikers Steve Hutchings, Tyler Moret, Andrew Todd and Mig Dark.

‘Josh was at the club when Craig Stafford was in charge of the youth team,’ said Turnbull. ‘He’s come back this summer and Lee (Mould, reserve team manager) has been really, really impressed with his attitude.

‘Myself, Barto (coach Paul Barton) and Fraser (Quirke, assistant manager) watched the reserves the other week - Josh is quite raw but he works hard, he’s powerful and he knows where the goal is.

‘He did really well - his goal was a bullet header.

‘Chad gave the ball away after about 10 seconds, but after that he was exceptional.

‘If I had been the opposing left-back I would definitely have had a hamstring problem at half-time and not come back out!

‘What I liked about Chad is that he wasn’t just reckless pace with no end product. He was very composed with his delivery.

‘He’s definitely staked a claim now. These are the ideal sort of games to give these youngsters a chance.

‘As Barto said, ‘if you don’t play them here then when are you going to play them?’

‘Chad will definitely get more chances. If this is the future of the club, then it’s looking ok.’

Unlike Cornwell and Bailey, Burroughs is no stranger to the Moneyfields first team - having played in the Southern League under Dave Carter in each of the previous two seasons. But, due to a pre-season injury, he started the season with the reserves.

Turnbull said: ‘We played Danny in Franko’s (James Franklyn) role. Bradey Norton could also fill in there if needed.

‘Danny is a really, really good finisher - that’s the thing I like about our squad, everyone brings different qualities and it’s then up to the management to blend it all together.’

Moneys had entered the Andover tie on the back of successive Wessex losses to Baffins and Brockenhurst.

The manager confessed: ‘The game had a bit more importance to me as a result.

‘If we had gone into a 10-day break with three defeats it wouldn’t have been ideal.

‘Now we can train on Thursday and then put the ball away for a few days - that includes the WhatsApp group, give my phone battery a rest.

‘But they’ll still be seeing each other - they’re off to Goodwood on Friday and Victorious at the weekend.

‘I’m glad we’re not playing on Saturday. I’m sure there’s a lot of Portsmouth area managers that would have liked this weekend off!’

Moneys’ scheduled Wessex League Cup tie with Blackfield next Tuesday has been postponed - Langley have a county cup tie instead - meaning their next match is against Christchurch on September 4.