Show of fighting spirit not quite enough as 10-man AFC Portchester go down at Moneyfields

Assistant manager Gavin Spurway says he could not have asked anymore of his AFC Portchester players following their Wessex League Premier defeat at Moneyfields.
AFC Portchester's Lee Wort, right, netted twice in the defeat at Moneyfields. Picture: Stuart Martin (220421-7042)AFC Portchester's Lee Wort, right, netted twice in the defeat at Moneyfields. Picture: Stuart Martin (220421-7042)
AFC Portchester's Lee Wort, right, netted twice in the defeat at Moneyfields. Picture: Stuart Martin (220421-7042)

The Royals had Conor Bailey sent off as they played the final 40 minutes with 10-men, but still rallied to score three goals despite suffering a 5-3 Dover Road defeat.

Spurway, taking charge for the day in the absence of suspended manager Dave Carter, in fact felt it was his side's first-half showing which let them down.

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But he took great pride from seeing how his players did not give up the fight despite numerous knockbacks against Moneys.

Spurway said: ‘It was just every time we got back in the game, we just needed a spell where they didn’t score, but they kept scoring.

‘When it went 3-2 we had a chance to make it three-all then when it went 4-3 it was either going to end up 5-3 or 4-4 - obviously it was them who scored.

‘We couldn’t have asked aymore, the lads - with 10-men - we had a proper go.

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‘We were down to 10-men, we could have kept it tight, but we had a go and the lads gave it everything, really, we couldn’t have asked for me.

‘We let ourselves in the first half, really, we didn’t play with any real quality I didn’t think.’

A pulsating afternoon saw a largely quiet first-half with Tom Cain's 11th-minute effort giving Moneys a slender 1-0 half-time advantage.

The Royals suffered the blow of Bailey collecting a second yellow card five minutes after the restart then Elliott Turnbull made it 2-0 on 56 minutes.

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But that only seemed to galvanise Portchester, who gave it a right go in the final half-hour or so.

The Royals dragged it back to 3-2 with Lee Wort firing into an empty net 16 minutes from time.

Surely when Franklyn grabbed his second on 77 minutes that would knock the stuffing out of the resilient Royals.

Yet, once again, Wort struck with five minutes left to give the battling Portchester a chance at 4-3.

And it wasn't until Dec Seiden’s stoppage-time strike Moneys could breath a sigh of relief knowing they'd beaten Portchester for the second time in the space of three months at Dover Road.

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