‘It would be an absolute sacrilege to throw it all away now’ – US Portsmouth boss Turnbull ahead of Wessex League Cup semi-final

There, the similarity comes to a crushing halt.

With respect, the Wessex League Cup isn’t the FA Vase. Last weekend, there were camera crews, a phalanx of photographers, live coverage on Radio Solent and a national media spotlight for the Vase semi-final. Wembley was the glorious prize on offer for victory over higher division Binfield.

This weekend, there will be myself and a photographer from The News watching the Wessex League Cup last-four tie between USP and Division 1 rivals Bemerton Heath Harlequins. I don’t expect to see any other media. A trip to AFC Portchester for a final against Hamworthy United on May 22 is this Saturday’s prize. There will be no special kits, no smart new suits, no live coverage on BT Sport, no £30,000 cheque for the winners, if they do get there.

But it is still a huge occasion for US, offering boss Glenn Turnbull and his history-making squad the chance for a final ‘farewell’ in front of spectators if they do beat Bemerton for the third time since he took over in the summer of 2019.

The US squad will soon be broken up as Turnbull takes over as manager of Moneyfields. His final game will, therefore, either be a relatively high profile cup final in front of spectators, or the spectacular anti-climax of a second cup semi-final loss in eight days with hardly anyone around to witness the end of the greatest era in the club’s history.

‘It would be lovely to get to the final and be able to have people come along and watch and say ‘well done’,’ Turnbull remarked.

‘It would be a fitting end to get to the final. Hopefully the players can go out and give themselves and give the club that chance.

‘That would be a decent platform then for the new management to build from.’

In amongst the glamour of the Vase run, it had almost gone unnoticed that USP had reached the Wessex League Cup semis.

Predecessors Portsmouth Royal Navy twice got this far, losing 2-1 on aggregate to AFC Lymington in 1994/95 and 4-1 on aggregate to Wimborne Town 12 months later.

But US have never previously reached the semis of a competition that no Division 1 club has ever won.

It’s not often that a second tier club even reaches the final - the last to do so were Fawley in 2017/18, drubbed 4-0 in the final by an AFC Portchester side who included current US pair Andrew Todd and Harry Birmingham.

En route to the Vase semis, US had dumped up six higher division clubs. They have beaten two more in the Wessex Cup - Tadley Calleva 3-0 and Brockenhurst 1-0.

After the blizzard of publicity surrounding the Vase run, Turnbull and his players have been returning to normality this week. The glare of the spotlight, he knows all too well, might never shine so strong again. Fame, even at local level, can be a fickle beast.

‘The coverage was phenomenal - we had seven pages in The News on Monday,’ said the manager.

‘My dad said to me one day this week ‘there’s nothing on you in the paper today - that’s it, you’re finished!’

‘It was lovely to see Express FM radio devote an hour to the club as well - I’m sure they’ve never done that before.

‘I don’t think the Non-League Paper will be coming back soon, but I’ve processed it quite quickly. That’s rare for me, but I’ve moved on.

‘If you had told me at the start of the season we’d win promotion, get to the semi-finals of the Vase and have a good chance of reaching the Wessex League Cup final, I’d have ripped your arm out of the socket.

‘That’s a fantastic achievement.

‘I said to the players after the (Vase semi-final) game that it would be an absolute sacrilege to throw it all away now (by losing to Bemerton).

‘Tyler (Moret) said ‘what does sacrilege mean?’ - I replied that it wouldn’t be very good, that we wouldn’t have done ourselves justice!’

Moret, ineligible for the Vase, is added to the squad for Bemerton’s visit.