Head coach Mark Pollard praises Fordingbridge after Gosport & Fareham record resounding Hampshire Premier victory

Gosport & Fareham head coach Mark Pollard credited Fordingbridge for sticking to their task after his side handed them a Hampshire Premier hammering.
Rob MacKinnon, second right, ran in two tries for Gosport & Fareham at Fordingbridge. Picture: Martin BurnettRob MacKinnon, second right, ran in two tries for Gosport & Fareham at Fordingbridge. Picture: Martin Burnett
Rob MacKinnon, second right, ran in two tries for Gosport & Fareham at Fordingbridge. Picture: Martin Burnett

Second-placed Gosport ran in 14 tries on the way to wrapping up a resounding 88-0 away day victory - their 10th success in 11 matches this season.

However, Pollard was quick to praise Fordingbridge for some of the 'really good spells' they had across the 80 minutes.

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And the Gosport head coach feels where Fordingbridge currently find themselves is a position his club have found themselves in previous seasons.

Pollard said: ‘My credit is to Fordingbridge. They stuck at it for the whole game - having a chat with some of their players afterwards - they’re in a position where they’re going through a lot of change, just as we have done in the past.

‘No-one has ever wanted to be on the wrongside of a heavy defeat like that. They stuck at it throughout the whole game, they had spells where they played really well, I’ll give credit to them for that as well.

‘Grassroots rugby and playing rugby - the fact we’re playing rugby week in, week out is the main thing - because last season we had no rugby.

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‘The fact that some clubs are turning out with good numbers is absolutely fantastic.’

Iain Grice and Ash Wakefield both ran in hat-tricks as Gosport remained two points behind leaders Havant 2nds, who have a perfect record of 11 wins from 11 so far.

Rob MacKinnon, Calum Alardice and Ben Smith chipped in with two tries apiece while Will Larkin and Jimmy Wallis completed the scoring.

Dom Holling was on hand to convert nine of the 14 tries recorded on a one-sided afternoon.

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Head coach Pollard added: ‘It’s kind of what the players are there to do, as a coach on the sidelines on a Saturday, it’s really good because the decisions that I’m making and which the players are making are creating some tries.

‘That’s all you can ask for is they run from their patterns, they offload when they offload - there was no greediness (against Fordingbridge) - players weren’t over-egging it or showboating at any point.

‘If there was a two-on-one they offloaded to make sure we scored. That’s kind of all I can ask them to do.’

Gosport's final action before the Christmas break sees them welcome Isle of Wight side Sandown & Shanklin to Gosport Park on Saturday.

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