‘This is the proudest I’ve been’ – joint bosses Suraci and Lea praise Gosport Borough Under-18s after historic FA Youth Cup victory

Callum Mann celebrates Gosport U18s' FA Youth Cup win against Cheltenham Saracen. Picture: Tom Phillips

An early goal from Christian Bennett gave Boro a 1-0 victory over Cheltenham Saracens tonight and a place in the first round of the FA Youth Cup for the first time.

‘At the end of the day it is about performance, but the FA Youth Cup is a cup and you want to get to the next round,’ said Suraci.

‘Me and Joe have been doing this for three years now (managing under-18s), I can safely say that is the proudest I’ve been.

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‘The work that it’s taken on the field and off the field, it’s safe to say me and Joe work hard at this job, so nights like this make it worth it.’

Lea added: ‘For the boys, it was really different this time around because it was really hyped up before. There was a lot of stuff in the paper and online and for boys their age it does affect them.

‘For them to get through this ... it was new for us (the joint managers) as well, and when you factor that in and the fact they were a good team - it was the same with Poole in the last round - to have beaten both of them and to not have conceded against either of them says a lot about where we’re at.

‘It makes us really proud because it’s taken time to build.’