US Portsmouth boss Turnbull: Tavistock ‘massively under-estimated us – more fool them’

USP knocked out higher division opposition for the fifth time in six rounds with a 3-1 success at The Lambs.

The margin of victory could easily have been much greater as US were given the freedom to spray the ball around.

‘We’d hadn’t necessarily done much homework on them, but they’d done hardly anything on us as their manager basically admitted afterwards,’ said Turnbull.

‘I think they massively under-estimated us and allowed us to play.

‘More fool them.

‘It was a big game for the players but it was a big game for the management. I think Fraser (Quirke, assistant manager), Barto (Paul Barton, coach) and myself covered all the bases, we did the right things at the right times.

‘We made the right substitutions and it was the right decision to keep Sarge (Harry Sargeant) in the team rather than recall JP (Jordan Pile, who had been suspended the previous week) straight away.

‘Collectively, we all stepped up - the players, the management.’

Recalling the game, Turnbull added: ‘It’s all still a bit of a blur … the main thing is I can’t believe we didn’t win by more.

‘I said to the players beforehand we needed the majority of them to be a seven out of 10, and if one or two played really well … there’s not many teams who can live with us.

‘As it was, everyone played well and one or two were outstanding. Tom Price and Jack Chandler were outstanding, Harry Sargeant was excellent again, Dec Seiden played very well.’

US celebrated by buying every can and bottle of beer Tavistock had in their Red & Black clubhouse, while they also stocked up for the four-hour trip home by visiting a local mini-market.

‘We cleaned out their clubhouse, we bought all their cans and bottles - the only thing we didn’t take was the stuff on tap,’ revealed Turnbull.

‘It was Liam Kyle’s birthday - he bought 28 Jaeger Bombs. I don’t think they’d had an order like that for a while!

‘Then we stopped at a Spa in the town centre, near the statue of Sir Francis Drake, and bought 10 crates of beer.

‘We used the money from the players’ fines for the last two years. Tom Jeffes had about £1,000 with him - I don’t know how much he had left!’