‘Professional’ cup final win
Shaun Gale praised the professional efforts of his Gosport Borough troops as they lifted the Portsmouth Senior
Cup with a comfortable 4-1 victory over Wessex League Premier Moneyfields.
And Gale says Wednesday’s trophy win serves as a ‘thank you’ to the club's sizeable following, chairman Iain McInnes and others involved with Boro for their input over a long, hard season.
Gosport's final act of the 2021-22 campaign proved to be an enjoyable one, with Dan Wooden's first-half double being followed by Aston's Leigh's second-half penalty and Luke Hallett's late header as Gale's men comfortably dealt with two-divisions lower Moneyfields at Baffins Milton Rovers’ PMC Stadium.
However, they did have Billie Busari shown a straight red just minutes after he had come off the bench mid-way through the second-half, having reacted angrily to an off-the-ball incident, to put the slightest dampener on things.
Gale fielded a team with a sprinkling of youth involvement, as teenagers Harvey Rew and Luke Hallett - both
19 - and 17-year-old Finley WalshSmith - handed his first Boro start - all featured from the outset in the final. And Gale could not have been happier with how the whole team dealt with the threat carried by Moneyfields.
He said: ‘It was really professional (performance). I'm really pleased with the youngsters, they showed a lot of maturity and how far they've come. Harry Kavanagh, Harvey Rew, Ashton Leigh did well, obviously young Fin (Walsh-Smith) had his first game starting for us at centre-back - he was up against an experienced, strong centre-forward (Steve Hutchings) who's not going to give you five minutes’ peace. He wouldn't have come up against anything like that before, Fin, but I was pleased he showed what he can do. Obviously getting young Dan Aitken on as well, he's only 16 years old.'
Gale was delighted to be able to give all involved with the club something to cheer to end the campaign.
He added: ‘It's a pleasing way to end the season, to be fair, on a high, with a bit of silverware, for the football club and all the people who put all the hard work in. It's for everyone, the fans and for the chairman who puts a lot of hard work and money into the club.’