Woeful Saints dominated by Gosport

OUTMUSCLED, outgunned and outplayed, Saints were bullied by Gosport on Tuesday night on route to their biggest loss of the season.

It couldn’t have gone much worse for City. A goal inside 20 seconds set the tone, and when a second, third and fourth went in before the clock had ticked over to 22 minutes the fans sensed it would be a bad night.

Borough added another goal straight after the restart and a sixth in the dying moments. The only highlight for Saints was Greg Ngoyi goal from the spot.

After the game joint boss James Gray plainly stated City are “not strong enough” to build a promotion push.

“From what we have seen over the last two games I don’t think we’re strong enough to get into the playoffs,” he said.

“We’re never going to throw the towel in but tonight was a good gauge for us, for where we really are in the league.

“We raised expectation by beating the teams in the bottom half but the teams around us in the league have played us off the park.

“Tonight everything we spoke about went out the window after 20 seconds and we were dead and buried after 20 minutes, it was boys against men.”

It was a night to forget for City who were behind after 18 seconds. Daniel Woodward cut in from the left before unleashing a 25-yard drive that found the top corner.

Saints’ evening took a turn for the worse five minutes later as Woodward notched his second, rounding Nick Jupp before coolly finishing.

At 2-0 down, Saints tried to find a way back but a well drill, physical Gosport side refused to give them any time on the ball.

The pressure told as Rory Williams stole possession in City’s half, starting a slick move that finished with Daniel Wooden getting between Jupp and Joe Bruce to tap home Brett Poate’s cross.

Three became four as Gosport poured forward. Bruce’s wayward clearance from a corner only found Sammy Igoe. The former Portsmouth man’s deep cross was headed hopefully towards the goal by Aaron Cook but a glaring error from Jupp, who misjudged the flight of the ball, saw it drop into the net.

City were hoping for a turnaround after half time but it wasn’t to be as Williams scored Gosport’s fifth on 47 minutes.

On 71 minutes Ngoyi dispatched a spot kick after Brad Wadkins was fouled but Gosport’s Adam Wilde heaped more misery on City, scoring a free kick from range in the 87th minute.

Six minutes later the referee blew the final whistle, much to the relief of the home side.

Saints will try to get back to winning ways on Saturday when they welcome 13th placed St Neots to Clarence Park on Saturday, 3pm kick off.