Gosport Borough

 

Gosport Borough FC is a non-league football club formed in 1944 in the Hampshire town of Gosport, which is located on the south coast peninsula on the west side of Portsmouth Harbour. The club was originally formed as Gosport Borough Athletic Club.

The clubs’ formation was initiated to bring organised football, athletics, swimming and cycling after World War Two. Former Southampton player Stan Cribb was put in charge of the football section, with the team including future international players Jimmy Scoular and Peter Harris.

Gosport won Portsmouth and District League Division One in 1944-45; their inaugural season, which led to a move to the Hampshire League in which the club won the Division One title at the first attempt. The team settled as a force in non-league Hampshire football without repeating the feat.

In 1966 the club became Gosport Borough and focussed on football, remaining as members of the Hampshire League and going on to win consecutive titles under the management of Tony Brickwood and Peter Edgar in 1976-77 and 1977-78.

The triumphs led to election into Division One South of the Southern League for the 1978-79 season. Their first four seasons saw top four finishes, leading to a place in the Premier Division for 1982-83 campaign as the Southern League was restructured.

Boro were relegated to the Southern Division at the conclusion of the 1983-84 season where they finished as runners-up and reclaimed their Premier Division status at the first attempt, winning their final home game against Salisbury in front of 1,500 fans.

After avoiding relegation in 1987-88 and winning the Hampshire Cup in the process, Gosport went on to finish in a best ever seventh place in the Premier Division of 1988-89. Unfortunately, a change of management saw many players depart Privett Park which led to relegation in 1989-90.

Boro suffered a further relegation from the Southern Division to the Wessex League in 1991-92. Roger Sherwood was appointed as manager and settled the ship for three seasons before former players John Hawes, Dave Pitt and Barry Cook were put in charge of the side.

The trios brief was to develop the club youth policy and to build a team of locally based players. An affiliation was formed with successful local youth side Gomer FC. However, the teams Wessex League form didn’t improve.

The club was restructured financially off the pitch, with reserve team boss Mick Marsh taking control of the first team in December 1999. Marsh halted the decline with his side putting in four top four finishes and reaching the last eight of the FA Vase in 2003-04.

Marsh retired in the summer of 2005, with John Robson coming in to take his place, but only lasting a few months before being replaced by Alex Pike. The new manager arrived with a great reputation having led Wimborne Town to win the FA Vase in 1992.

Boro won the Wessex League in 2006-07 to reclaim their position in the Southern League where they were placed in Division One South & West. A mid table finish in Gosport’s first season back before the 2011-12 season saw them reach the play-offs.

Sholing were defeated at Privett Park before Boro sealed promotion to the Premier Division by winning 3-1 away to Poole Town as the goals of Justin Bennett led the way. In 2012-13 the club matched the feat of 1980-81 by reaching the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup.

The run ended in a replay against Slough Town before league form picked up to again reach the play-offs. Boro did it the hard way by winning away to Stourbridge and then defeat Hemel Hempstead Town at Adeyfield on penalties to reach the Conference South.

In 2013-14 Boro eventually finished in twelfth position, but it was in the FA Trophy that the team excelled. Wins against Dorchester Town, Concord Rangers, Nuneaton Town, Hungerford Town, North Ferriby United and then semi final victory over Havant & Waterlooville took them to the final.

Gosport went down 4-0 to Cambridge United at Wembley in front of an attendance of 18,120. The following season saw further glory; this time in the FA Cup. Boro reached the first round for the first time before losing 6-3 at home to Colchester United in front of over 2,000 fans.

The team went on to finish just outside the play-off places in the Conference South season of 2014-15, before the competition was retitled as the National League South. Financial problems in 2015-16 led to players departing and club being hit with an embargo.

Among those to go was legendary striker Bennett. The troubles continued into the 2016-17 as a potential financial backer pulled out. The club was to be hit with four winding up orders from HMRC throughout the season. A traumatic campaign ended in relegation back to the Southern League.

Pike was sacked in September 2017, after a dozen years as manager, with Boro sitting bottom of the Premier Division. His former assistant Mick Catlin took over at the helm. The former Portsmouth chairman Iain McInnes took control of the club a few months later and reinstalled Pike as manager.

The teams form didn’t improve, despite the returning boss being able to bring in players. He was sacked for a second time in March 2018 as striker Rowan Vine was put in temporary charge, while the HMRC threatened to dissolve the club at the end of the season if accounts weren’t forthcoming.

Gosport survived relegation on the final day of the season before Ryan Northmore was appointed as manager in May 2018. However, the new man decided to resign within a month after his Colombian wife was refused entry into the UK.

Experienced and well-travelled striker Craig McAllister was appointed as player-manager, with Matt Tubbs; a man of similar credentials coming in as assistant. The Southern League added a secondary top flight with Gosport being placed in Premier Division South. Boro escaped relegation on the last day of the 2018-19 season leading to the appointment of Lee Molyneaux as manager.

He departed in June 2020 to be replaced by Shaun Gale who lasted until November 2022 in the post when he was eventually succeeded by head coaches Pat Suraci and Joe Lea. Their side reached the playoffs in 2023-24 losing in their semifinal clash with Salisbury.

Gosport Borough FC will play in the Southern League Premier Division South in the 2024-25 season.

My visit

Gosport Borough 3 Hendon 1 (Saturday 24^th November 2018) Southern League Premier Division South (att: 201)

I’d arrived back to the UK on a cold, dark and damp Friday lunchtime after a couple of weeks in the beautiful weather of Thailand. Despite that, I was desperately keen to follow Hendon to another new ground on my tick list.

I must have been keen, or else I’d have had an extra day or so in the heat. Steve Barnes was also up for the trip and he had kept his eyes on any possible disruptions on the train owing to the continuing strikes on South West Trains.

I’d tried to reacclimatise with a few pints, a good feed and a long kip on my return before heading to Wetherspoons in Kingsbury for a decent feed. I met Steve at the station at 9.30am as we headed to Waterloo where I updated my Network Rail pass and bought the day’s tickets.

Some other regular Dons fans had related the tale of virtually empty trains on their trip to Salisbury a few weeks previously, as customers were put off by the strikes. It was the same on this occasion as it was a case of choose wherever you want.

Steve proved to be a good travelling companion as ever. He listened to my cricketing and Thai adventures while also trying to plan our real ale stops for the day. The journey was bang on time when we alighted at Portsmouth Harbour station.

There was a bit of confusion regarding buying tickets for the Gosport Ferry, but we were soon crossing the water and finding the bus station ready for our real adventures to commence. I was soon in for an inadvertent surprise as we jumped off our first bus ride.

The stop was right outside Siam Thai Market; a shop selling Thai produce as well as selling and displaying Thai league football club shirts on the wall. The staff let me take a photo, which I got a good response to when I posted it on Facebook.

A couple of doors along we found the Four-Ale Taproom, where John Rogers, a fellow Hendon fan and reporter for the day, was already enjoying a pint. It was a decent enough establishment with the lass serving was being bored rigid by a bloke taking about historical wars.

We left them to it to take the Eclipse E2 bus to Station Road, where we found the Queen’s Arms. This pub had a magnificent traditional frontage bus was lacking in a choice of ale. After a pint we decided to get our steps in for the day by walking along a footpath that was once a rail track.

It brought us out at the Junction Arms, where the welcome was warm and the beer in top nick, even with the limited options. A fella, who I presumed was a Gosport fan recognised my Hendon scarf. We sat with him.

It turned out that Andy was a Lewes fan who formerly ran the Gardeners Arms, an excellent boozer that Steve and I had enjoyed visiting around a year earlier. He was in absolute awe when I mentioned that my mate was the publican of the Wenlock Arms for many years. It was like pub deity.

Andy like many football fans over 50 had fallen out of love with the professional game. For many years he never missed a Swindon Town game but a mixture of overpaid egotistical players, admission prices and dodgy owners had taken its toll. He now groundhopped non-league games.

Our new friend went on his way while we decided to have another beer; such was its quality. The landlady rung as a cab and a friendly Indian cricket mad driver dropped us at the gates of Privett Park for just £3.20 ten minutes before kick off.

Admission was £10, which included a basic four page programme. A more comprehensive issue could be downloaded from the club website free of charge. It was an initiative that a few clubs seemed to be favouring.

The weather was closing in, with the predicted heavy rain beginning to fall, as well as the winds picking up. I grabbed a bacon cheeseburger with onions and Bovril for a very reasonable £4.40 before we took shelter in the Main Stand.

This magnificent raised wooden seated structure was the showpiece of Privett Park. The pillars obstructed one or two views, but it exuded character and had a warmth that the smaller modern seated structure on the far side could only dream of.

Both ends were predominantly open flat standing, save for some cover provided with a lean-to roof on the side of the clubhouse at the Privett Road End of the ground. It was a neat and tidy venue if a little open at the Park End to the winds.

Hendon set off in the game like a house on fire with the diagonal cross pitch wind in their favour. The conditions were to make it difficult for both sides. Danny Boness in the Dons goal struggled with a punch. It fell to Sam Lanahan whose effort was blocked close in.

Then the visitors took control. Pat O'Flaherty was to make the first of several fine stops when he denied Shaun Lucien on seven minutes. The same player was denied shortly after from twenty five yards as the custodian completed his save at the second attempt.

Connor Calcutt and Ricardo German both bought the best out of O’Flaherty as he produced fine low saves. We felt that Hendon had to take advantage while they could taking into consideration the slightly favourable conditions and their dominance.

Hendon’s in form Shaquille Hippolyte-Patrick was fortunate not to be booked for a blatant dive, while his teammate Lucien perhaps paid the penalty of the inconsistency of referee Stu Kyle when he was blatantly brought down by a defender in the box but received a yellow card for supposed simulation.

Lucien saw O’Flaherty keep him out for a third time before the keeper somehow managed to deal with a Taishan Griffith cross. Boro’s player-manager Craig McAllister and then Lanahan responded for efforts as the hosts began to get into the game.

German was correctly cautioned for an act of petulance in kicking the ball away. Tony Lee saw Boness punch away a fierce effort before Hippolyte-Patrick opened the scoring seven minutes before the interval with a good low shot that skipped off the wet surface from outside the box.

The advantage lasted less than two minutes before Luke Tingey slipped in the box to allow McAllister to finish in expert fashion. Somehow Lee put a simple chance wide following another Tingey slip as the match followed a similar pattern to Hendon’s game at Salisbury a few weeks before.

The ref failed to book Lee for kicking the ball away in the same fashion as German to raise the ire of the Dons bench. At the break we went for a wander and had a look inside the vibrant clubhouse before taking a seat in the newer stand for the second period with other away fans.

McAllister nearly made it 2-1 when he really should have scored with a header shortly after the restart. Patrick Suraci saw a free kick brilliantly saved by Boness as Gosport turned up the pressure against a Hendon defence missing a couple of regular centre backs.

Joe Lea came close for Boro before they inevitably took the lead as Boness badly misjudged a long ball, to allow it to bounce over his head, where Lee followed up to tap into an empty net. While it was a blow, it wasn’t good to see one or two too many Hendon players heads drop.

With twenty minutes remaining Gosport had a goal disallowed for the second time in the game before Lee saw an effort come back off the bar as Hendon manager Jimmy Gray made a couple of substitutions to little effect.

Eventually, the pressure deservedly told in the last few minutes of the game when lively sub Ryan Pennery laid the ball square for Suraci to finish at the back post. We headed round towards the exit past the cock a hoop home fans who were relieved to see their side win after five consecutive losses.

The Gosport fans were passionate, knowledgeable and fair from those we came across. I managed to have a spat on Twitter with someone who only went occasionally and was mainly a Pompey fan but saw fit to try and wind me up. Wrong person in the wrong mood I’m afraid.

We caught a bus back into the town centre, catching up with Andy again who offered a fair and accurate summary of proceedings. Steve had located somewhere to cheer the pair of us up, even if it did take a bit of finding!

The Fallen Acorn Brewing Co. was in a cul-de-sac on a small industrial estate. It served the public on a weekend inside the actual brewery. We enjoyed a good chat and a couple of pints. The only issue was that the building needed to be cold and I was already wet from the game and adjusting after my holiday.

We took the ferry back into Portsmouth in driving rain. The Ship Anson was busy, including the East Cowes Victoria FC squad awaiting their ferry back to the Isle of Wight and wasn’t offering anything too exciting beer wise, so we headed to The Old Customs House.

This was a fine Fullers house in the redeveloped Gunwharf Quays. Again, it was very busy, but the ale was good, and we got warm. Finally, we braved the conditions to walk along Park Road, where memories of seeing Hampshire’s final county cricket game in the city came flooding back.

We were very damp when we entered the Brewhouse and Kitchen on Guildhall. We managed to get some seats to enjoy the ale that was brewed on the premises. It was soon time to walk up the street and catch the London bound train at Portsmouth & Southsea station.

I’d comment on the journey back, but to be honest I remember very little of it. The jet lag, weather and booze had taken effect and I was shattered, sleeping much of it. I must have been done for, as I even turned down a nightcap back in Kingsbury!

Summing up; it was a top day out in good company in some excellent pubs, spoiled by a shocking hour on the pitch by Hendon, but that’s football! Well played Gosport We’d both be back to cheer on The Dons as soon as possible.