US Portsmouth aiming for another FA Vase win at AFC Portchester’s Crest Finance Stadium

US Portsmouth will be aiming to win at The Crest Finance Stadium for the second FA Vase round running on Wednesday.
US Portsmouth in action during their 2-1 win at AFC Portchester in the FA Vase second qualifying round. US are back at the same ground in the first round against Bournemouth Poppies on Wednesday. Pic: Martyn White.US Portsmouth in action during their 2-1 win at AFC Portchester in the FA Vase second qualifying round. US are back at the same ground in the first round against Bournemouth Poppies on Wednesday. Pic: Martyn White.
US Portsmouth in action during their 2-1 win at AFC Portchester in the FA Vase second qualifying round. US are back at the same ground in the first round against Bournemouth Poppies on Wednesday. Pic: Martyn White.

In the last ‘non-elite’ non-league game in the Portsmouth region for at least a month, they have switched their home first round tie against higher division Bournemouth Poppies to AFC Portchester’s ground.

They did exactly the same in the previous round, after being initially drawn at home to the Royals, and reaped the financial rewards from a much bigger crowd than if the tie had been held at the Victory Stadium.

US boss Glenn Turnbull said: ‘It makes sense.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

‘HMS Temeraire is due to go into lockdown at 10pm on Wednesday night, so it would have been tight.

‘We’ve got to pay £100 for the stewards and provide someone on the gate, but we’ll take all the gate money and Portchester will take all the bar and food money.’

Turnbull is boosted by the availability of Navy pair Andrew Todd and Cameron Quirke after this week’s Inter-Services Championship was cancelled.

Both would have missed last Friday’s tie against Poppies had the game not been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

With Tyler Moret cup tied, Todd is likely to start up front as US aim to beat Wessex Premier opposition for the seventh time since football resumed in early August.

Frankie Paige, John Cass, Owen Haly and Jay Ripiner could all feature in the squad after playing for the reserves in a 4-3 Hampshire Combination Cup win at AFC Stoneham at the weekend.

US will be home to either Brockenhurs(Wessex Premier) or Street (Western League Premier) in the second round of the Vase, and Turnbull is hoping for a sizeable crowd to cheer them on against Poppies.

‘We’re badging this up as your last chance to watch a non-league game in the area for a month or so,’ he remarked.

‘Of course, we don’t know when we’ll next play.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

‘I’ve heard that the FA might look to restart games after Christmas - to give teams a chance to start training again after the lockdown.’

Turnbull said the Wessex League had emailed all member clubs asking for views on how to end 2020/21 if the season cannot be completed.

Controversially, the FA cancelled last season for all clubs at step 3 and below - denying US a probable promotion to the Wessex Premier.

‘The only sensible thing would be to null and void it again,’ Turnbull stated.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

‘You would need clubs to have played at least three-quarters of a season before you could look at points per game, otherwise it wouldn’t be fair.’

US had played 77 per cent of their Division 1 games in 2019/20 prior to the governing body cancelling the campaign.

‘I think if we had a third lockdown, that would be it for the season - and some clubs might not come back,’ Turnbull added.

‘The beauty of our club is that we haven’t really got any outgoings, apart from paying the match officials and paying for some food on matchdays, and not much income either.

‘Other clubs have ground maintenance issues and other costs.

‘If we’re not paying out for officials and food, we’re just preserving the status quo.’