Pike: Hard-working Gosport unfortunate to suffer defeat... Moneys draw

The Borough was upbeat about what he saw in the match.

He felt his players showed they have the determination and the ability to climb the Southern League premier division table.

Pike also considered the margin of the Boxing Day defeat to be very harsh on his team.

He said: ‘I felt sorry for the players because they put in a big shift.

‘Players proved that they want to wear the shirt and play for the club.

‘We worked harder than Basingstoke but paid the price for a little bit of naivety.

‘Basingstoke were just that bit more clinical in front of goal.

‘Their second goal killed us off.

‘After that we went three up front and they hit us on the break for their third goal.

‘Their manager Jason Bristow admitted we deserved to get something out of the game.’

Pike will be aiming to add to his squad with some new recruits and is hopeful quick progress can now be made on that front.

He added: ‘It hasn’t been easy a few days before Christmas talking to players.

‘Hopefully now we will have the chance to bring a couple in to strengthen the squad.

‘There is no doubt we can turn the corner and climb the league.’

Meanwhile, Joe Briggs scored but Moneyfields were held to a 1-1 draw by Fleet Town in the Southern League east division.

Dave Carter’s team were looking to bounce back at Dover Road after losing 3-1 on Saturday to Kempston Rovers.

Briggs gave them the perfect start when he scored after just 12 minutes.

But Fleet hit back to level from a penalty to take a point from the early kick-off match which started at 12.30pm.