By Pete Martin – Cover image by Roger Elliott
The Whites suffered their 4th consecutive defeat as they fell to a 3-1 loss at home to Gosport Borough. Following a number of late loan signings manager Brian Dutton made 4 changes to his starting lineup as new boys Olutobi Ogundega, Thomas McDermott and James Plant came in for Nessum Kherbouce, Marvin Brooks and Lucas Tomlinson, whilst Gerard Benfield returned in goal in place of Toby Steward.
It was a fairly quiet start to the game with most of the early exchanges taking place in the midfield area of the pitch. It was on 11 minutes that the game’s first chance arrived and saw Gosport’s Noa Boutin fire over the top when put through by former Salisbury winger Abdulai Baggie, although the ref somehow gave it as a corner despite there clearly being no defensive touch.
Images by Roger Elliott
The home side’s first real chance of note was on 21 minutes when a good attacking move saw Dan Fitchett have a shot blocked inside the area. From that move, with Salisbury having committed players forward, Gosport broke and defender Sam Roberts found himself outpaced and with Brett Williams through on goal he brought him down outside the area and was shown a red card for denying a goal-scoring opportunity. This meant a reshuffle at the back and for the 2nd consecutive game, midfielder Josh Carmichael found himself having to slot in at centre half.
Despite being down to 10, the Whites continued to threaten and it was Carmichael who went close on 25 minutes when a free kick fell to him on the edge of the area but his shot was well dealt with by former Whites number 1, Pat O’Flaherty in the Gosport goal. As the half went on Salisbury continued to see plenty of the ball, new boys McDermott and Plant linking up well, without managing to create anything to test O’Flaherty. 5 minutes before half time though the Whites were dealt a blow as Gosport took the lead with a goal scored on the break. It came from a Salisbury corner which was immediately cleared and when the ball was moved across to Baggie, he came inside from the left and fired home a fierce shot from the edge of the area giving Benfield no chance to send the visitors into the break with a one-goal advantage.
Images by Michael Berkeley
Despite having a man fewer, the Whites came out firing in the 2nd half and were back on level terms within 5 minutes. Excellent battling from Brandon Goodship outside the area saw the ball given away to McDermott and his clever pass back to Goodship found the attacker in space inside the box and after a couple of touches, he slotted home under O’Flaherty for a deserved equaliser.
As Salisbury continued to battle away, it wasn’t obvious which side had the man disadvantage; although the Whites had the majority of the ball they were unable to fashion many goal scoring chances. That changed on 66 minutes when a good move down the right saw Seung Yang play the ball across the box and, although Plant originally mis-kicked, his 2nd effort was on target and well blocked by a Gosport defender. 2 minutes later it was Fitchett who was denied, O’Flaherty doing well to push wide his rasping drive from just inside the box before 10 minutes later the away side took the lead for the 2nd time in the match. Again it came on the breakaway and saw substitute Billie Busari the man in the clear and he was able to slide the ball home under Benfield from inside the box.
With time running out, and Salisbury battling hard for an equaliser, Gosport added a 3rd goal on 89 minutes; Busari grabbing his 2nd when a long free kick down the middle was allowed to bounce and he nipped in and rounded Benfield to complete the scoring for the night.
Despite the loss, 10-man Salisbury gave a good account of themselves and will look to try and build on any positives they can take when they welcome Plymouth Parkway to the Ray Mac on Saturday 4th February for a 3 pm kick-off.
Team: Benfield, Brooks C, Sommerton, Roberts, Ogundega, Carmichael, Yang, McDermott(Arnold), Goodship(Tomlinson), Plant, Fitchett.
Unused Subs: Lee, Brooks M, Lawrence
