Buckland boy and ex-Portsmouth player helps non-leaguers claim FA Cup upset to dump out Joey Barton's Bristol Rovers

National League side Boreham Wood triumphed 2-0 at the home of Joey Barton’s side on Sunday.

It represented only a second defeat in 14 matches in-form Rovers – and keeping goal for The Wood was former Hawks and Gosport keeper Nathan Ashmore.

The 32-year-old Pompey fan was a pupil at St John’s Cathedral Catholic Primary School and then St Edmund’s Catholic School, and is these days Drayton-based.

He was also on the Blues’ books until his release at the age of 14 from an age group containing Matt Ritchie and Joel Ward.

Yet Ashmore continues to enjoy an excellent non-league career, having spent the last six seasons in the National League, firstly with Ebbsfleet and now Boreham Wood.

Luke Garrard’s 11th-placed side found themselves 2-0 up inside the opening half hour at the Memorial Stadium, following goals from defenders Will Evans and David Stephens.

Rovers made four substitutions at the interval to find a way back into the match, yet Ashmore’s first meaningful contribution was a save from substitute Harvey Saunders in the 82nd minute.

There was no way back for Barton’s men, who are presently 15th in League One after recovering from a difficult start to the campaign.

Following the defeat, manager Barton told The Bristol Post: ‘We’ve set our standards and today we were clearly below our standard of performance.

‘For me, certainly in the past 12 months, the standard of performance has been relatively high, but a rude awakening for us and if there is anybody in that dressing room that feels that might be accepted, you know how effective and ruthless and efficient we are.

‘Their f****** feet won’t hit the ground if they think that’s the level of performance.

‘The FA Cup is great and we want to have a good cup run and visit some grounds. I don’t really give a s*** about it because I’ve played in all these places.

"Are we going to win the FA Cup? Absolutely not. Could we take the fans on a journey and the team on a journey? Yeah, so I’m disappointed in that regard because it’s an exciting competition.

‘But the bread and butter for us is establishing ourselves as a League One club, which we’re making a good fist of.’

Former Pompey player John Marquis did not feature in Rovers’ squad, despite recently returning from five weeks out through injury.

He has netted twice in 16 outings so far, with his last appearance being a start in last week’s 2-1 Papa John’s Trophy win at Colchester.