‘We have the character, we have the fight, and we have the determination’ – Gosport Borough ready for tough week after successive wins

Abdulai Baggie, left, scored Gosport's opening goal in Tuesday's Southern League win at Salisbury. Picture by Tom Phillips

Boro take on a fifth-placed Poole Town side who were caned 4-0 at lowly Plymouth Parkway last weekend.

At the same time Boro were coming from 0-2 down with 15 minutes remaining to beat Hayes & Yeading 3-2 at Privett Park.

Mark Molesley’s men followed that up on Tuesday by winning 3-1 at 10-man Salisbury to move six points clear of the Southern League Premier South drop zone.

After travelling to Poole, Boro host the top two teams in the division in four days - leaders Weston-super-Mare on Wednesday and second-placed Truro on the Saturday.

Salisbury were reduced to 10 men after 20 minutes in midweek when former Boro defender Sam Roberts was sent off for bringing down Brett Williams.

Abdulai Baggie put Boro ahead with Brandon Goodship levelling four minutes into the second half.

For the second game running, Boro ended strongly - top scorer Dan Wooden netting his 12th league goal of the season on 78 minutes and sub Billie Busari adding a late third.

‘We started well and ended well,’ Molesley told The News. ‘We did enough to win, but in the middle third we learnt some valuable lessons.

‘We probably had more to lose than they did, and we didn’t deal with the psychology of the game that well.

‘Playing against 10 men can be tricky and we didn’t deal with that as well as we would have liked.

‘We grew frustrated, we were wasteful in possession - and errors added to our frustration.

‘But I was really pleased with the way the boys wrestled back control. We are showing that we have the character, we have the fight, and we have the determination.’

Two of Molesley’s three loan signings started at Salisbury - Noa Boutin and George Hunt getting a second start in four days - while Hawks winger Gianni Crichlow came on in the second half.

Prior to losing at Parkway, Poole had moved into the play-offs with four successive league wins.

They came from 0-2 down to beat Hanwell before ex-Gosport striker Tony Lee scored braces in victories against North Leigh (4-0), Dorchester (3-0) and Salisbury (3-1).

‘This league keeps on challenging you,’ said Molesley. ‘We have some tough games coming up, but these are the games you want – you want to challenge yourselves against the best.’