Shaun Gale's high praise for young contingent who stood tall in Portsmouth Senior Cup final meeting with Moneyfields - and thanks support base and chairman Iain McInnes for endless season backing

And Gale says the trophy win serves as a thanks to the club's sizeable following, chairman Iain McInnes and others involved with Boro for their input over a long, hard season.

Gosport's final act of the 2021-22 campaign proved to be an enjoyable one, with Dan Wooden's first-half double being followed by Aston's Leigh's second-half penalty and Luke Hallett's late header as Gale's men comfortably dealt with two-divisions lower Moneyfields at Baffins Milton Rovers FC's PMC Stadium.

However, they did have Billie Busari shown a straight red card just minutes after he had come off the bench mid-way through the second-half having reacted angrily to an off-the-ball incident to put the slightest dampener on things.

The Boro boss fielded a team with a sprinkling of youth involvement, as teenagers Harvey Rew and Luke Hallett - both 19 - and 17-year-old Finley Walsh-Smith - handed his first Boro start - all featured from the outset in the final. And Gale could not have been happier with how the whole team dealt with the threat carried by Moneyfields.

He said: ‘It was really professional (performance). I'm really pleased with the youngsters, they showed a lot of maturity and how far they've come. Harry Kavanagh, Harvey Rew, Ashton Leigh did well, obviously young Fin (Walsh-Smith) had his first game starting for us at centre-back - he was up against an experienced, strong centre-forward (Steve Hutchings) who's not going to give you five minute's peace. He wouldn't have come up against anything like that before, Fin, but I was pleased he showed what he can do. Obviously getting young Dan Aitken on as well, he's only 16 years old.'

Gosport ended their Southern League Premier South campaign with a 2-1 victory at Yate Town last weekend, although that was not enough to see them finish in the play-off places. But Gale was delighted to be able to give all involved with the club something to cheer to end the campaign.

He added: ‘It's a pleasing way to end the season, to be fair, on a high, with a bit of silverware, for the football club and all the people who put all the hard work in. It's for everyone, the fans and for the chairman who puts a lot of hard work and money into the club.’