Gosport Borough 2 Winchester City 1
British Gas Business Southern League Div 1 South & West
Winchester City visited old Wessex rivals, Gosport Borough, for the first Southern League match at Privett Park since 1992, and fell to their first league defeat against Borough for thirty years. Andy Leader made three changes from the opening day defeat to Abingdon, welcoming Danny Potter and Matt Bowler into the side for their competitive debuts, and Ben Bosley started in place of the injured Dave Lewis.
In a carbon copy of their opening match, City were a goal down after less than a minute, Kevin Gill bundling home Danny Gibbon’s cross. The second consecutive poor start unsettled the defence, who took a while to settle. Borough were dominant throughout the first twenty minutes, one of several chances falling to former City favourite, Lloyd Webber, who hit a post in what was otherwise a quiet match against his old club. However, the other former Denplan player in the home side, Matt Jones, bettered that, scoring after a corner caused confusion in the City defence after 22 minutes.
The visitors responded well to this setback, first a long, long Adam Lang free kick bounced off a Gosport head just past the post and then, after 28 minutes, Dave Allen’s long ball from the right touchline allowed an unmarked Potter to loop a header over the stranded Mark Brown and into the Borough net. Moments later, City were nearly level when Adam George shot powerfully inside the box, only for a Gosport defender to desperately defect the ball over the bar.
Leader’s half time team talk clearly had an impact, with City coming out like an express train for the second half. Again similarly to the opening match, they dominated possession in the second period but without really creating any decent chances. Leader made three changes during the half, with Mark Lilley, starting his third spell with the club, Larbi Mekchiche and Terry Cox coming on for Bosley, Potter and Bowler respectively. However, none were able to unlock the Borough defence, the best of few chances in the half coming to Gosport, with Clint Davies doing well to tip over a header. Despite some late onslaughts from the visitors, Borough held onto their lead and their first league victory over City since the old Hampshire League days.
City: Davies, Stone, Lang, Lockyer, Bowler (Cox), Llewellyn, Williams, Allen, Potter (Mekchiche), George, Bosley (Lilley), unused subs: Wright, Stopforth
British Gas Business Southern League Div 1 South & West
Winchester City visited old Wessex rivals, Gosport Borough, for the first Southern League match at Privett Park since 1992, and fell to their first league defeat against Borough for thirty years. Andy Leader made three changes from the opening day defeat to Abingdon, welcoming Danny Potter and Matt Bowler into the side for their competitive debuts, and Ben Bosley started in place of the injured Dave Lewis.
In a carbon copy of their opening match, City were a goal down after less than a minute, Kevin Gill bundling home Danny Gibbon’s cross. The second consecutive poor start unsettled the defence, who took a while to settle. Borough were dominant throughout the first twenty minutes, one of several chances falling to former City favourite, Lloyd Webber, who hit a post in what was otherwise a quiet match against his old club. However, the other former Denplan player in the home side, Matt Jones, bettered that, scoring after a corner caused confusion in the City defence after 22 minutes.
The visitors responded well to this setback, first a long, long Adam Lang free kick bounced off a Gosport head just past the post and then, after 28 minutes, Dave Allen’s long ball from the right touchline allowed an unmarked Potter to loop a header over the stranded Mark Brown and into the Borough net. Moments later, City were nearly level when Adam George shot powerfully inside the box, only for a Gosport defender to desperately defect the ball over the bar.
Leader’s half time team talk clearly had an impact, with City coming out like an express train for the second half. Again similarly to the opening match, they dominated possession in the second period but without really creating any decent chances. Leader made three changes during the half, with Mark Lilley, starting his third spell with the club, Larbi Mekchiche and Terry Cox coming on for Bosley, Potter and Bowler respectively. However, none were able to unlock the Borough defence, the best of few chances in the half coming to Gosport, with Clint Davies doing well to tip over a header. Despite some late onslaughts from the visitors, Borough held onto their lead and their first league victory over City since the old Hampshire League days.
City: Davies, Stone, Lang, Lockyer, Bowler (Cox), Llewellyn, Williams, Allen, Potter (Mekchiche), George, Bosley (Lilley), unused subs: Wright, Stopforth
Document last updated: 28/08/2007
