Portsmouth started brightly and showed their intent right from the off with some nice possession hockey. Gosport broke away but were held up by the solid Seb Martin and Jacob Jolliffe, who picked the ball off the oncoming forward which caused the ball to squirm out to Nathan Moore, who, using his trademark slap, fired the ball high up the pitch towards the marked Alfie Hall.

A glorious dummy from Hall (or did he just miss it?) was enough to fool his marker and enabled the ball to continue to Jamie Moore just outside the D. Mooro marauded into the D and smashed the ball through the keepers legs.

1-0

Portsmouth looked comfortable in possession and moved the ball well, creating chances.

Excellent play in the Gosport D saw the enigmatic Terry Exton put the keeper on the floor and easily slot past him.

2-0

George Gale then scored what could be a contender for goal of the season, unfortunately I didn’t see it as was subbing off but I’m sure he’ll tell you about it if you ask him.

3-0

A few more attacks from Gosport were snuffed out early in midfield by the new pairing of Dan Whitcher and Alex Williams, anything further was contained well by the back four, not least Harry Simmons, whose cool head and calm distribution earned him a well deserved MoM. There were also a couple of fine saves by Phinn Lambe.

Halftime 3-0, Portsmouth.

Half time talk told the team to continue attacking wide and defending narrow, which we did thanks to our inside/ wing players Louie Ripley, Lucas Carkeek-Blakely and Hall.

Second half, Portsmouth penalty corner. 3 seconds for injection……..injection didn’t make it out of the D! Not to worry, the switched on Dan Whitcher collected the ball first and in the confusion, the ball made its way to Seb Martin near the top of the D, Seb did Seb things and buried the ball past the keeper with aplomb.

4-0

Another fine attack saw Gale with the ball on stick, finding its way to Ripley and, almost like a scene from swan lake, he danced his way gracefully and serenely from outside the 23 into the D ghosting past at least 3 Gosport defenders and beating the goalkeeper. It really was a thing of beauty.

5-0

Gosport then scored! But it was disallowed as the umpire had blown a second to early for PC. Whoops!

Yet another attack from Portsmouth and a melee in the D, the ball again found itself and the end of Mooro’s stick, this time with his back to goal, a quick shift to the right and a reverse flick saw the ball into the back of the net for the final time.

Final Score, 6-0, Portsmouth.

As I said, it was a feisty niggly game, but lots of positives to take from it. And with the eclectic mix of age, experience and youth, it’s going to be an enjoyable season.

Oh yeah, and Mooro won DoD for failing three attempts to play the ball using 3 different skills, in the same 5 seconds.