Recap

Report

Quite how the Peacocks could be so totally dominant in one half yet so miserably abject in the other will remain a conundrum for the management team to address as they crashed out of the FA Trophy following a second thumping on the south coast in the space of four days. All looked fine and dandy at the mid-point with Town ahead via Jayden Nielsen’s well-struck shot before total control gave way to calamitous collapse in the epitome of a Jekyll and Hyde display.

The Taunton side showed three changes from the defeat at Totton, with David Duru, Jack Matthews and Aysa Corrick coming in for Tom Purrington, Morgan Lewis and the cup-tied Jay Malshanskyj, and it didn’t take much time for Town to impose themselves on their host who were also looking to bounce back from a midweek loss. Jake Hodgson, recipient of an unwarranted early yellow card, forced Borough keeper Ryan Gosney to touch wide a shot from a narrow angle at his near post and when the ensuing corner was cleared Eddie Jones saw his strike deflect for another corner.

The visitors maintained their early pressure when Ollie Woodhouse’s cross from the right was met by Toby Down’s header, Gosney tipping over the bar for a third corner after ten minutes and when Jones delivered from the opposite side Woodhouse glanced his header off the base of the far post. A Woodhouse long throw was then cleared to Alfie Moulden whose shot was kept out by Gosney’s sprawling stop. Such was Town’s dominance it took Gosport 23 minutes to post their first and only attempt of the first half, Asher Yearwood’s shot proving a routine gather for Adam Parkes, before the Peacocks deservedly broke the deadlock after 27 minutes. A confident move began with Tom Smith finding Matthews out wide, his cross found Corrick who saw his effort blocked at close quarters and when the ball fell loose Nielsen drilled a sweet finish into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.

Town continued to press forward for the rest of the half, with a number of moves easy on the eye. However they couldn’t translate the one-way traffic into more goals. Moulden’ s strike from distance was palmed down by Gosney who then had to tidy up a wayward back pass from Joe Morrison as it rolled towards the target. Duru and Smith were both foiled by defenders’ bodies while Nielsen flashed a volley the wrong side of the post as the half ended positively.

Warning – the following text contains descriptions which some readers may find disturbing. Gosport made a triple switch for the start of the second half, and this seemed to be the catalyst for their improvement while the Peacocks unexplainably suffered a second half horror show. Borough were level just three minutes in, Harry Kavanagh found in acres of space down the right and from his cross Yearwood’s shot was saved by Parkes and Dan Wooden capitalised on the rebound to head over the Town keeper.

Visibly boosted by the equaliser, Gosport began to assert themselves against the visitors who were struggling to get to grips in the second half although they might have done better in response when a run from Matthews down the left saw him square to the incoming Corrick who opted to go forward instead of shooting and the eventual effort was blocked, with Moulden’s follow-up deflected into the side netting.

Purrington and Lewis replaced Duru and Matthews just past the hour before a dreadful error from Parkes gifted Gosport the lead after 65 minutes, his pass across the box going straight to Wooden who had the luxury of slotting into an open goal. Nielsen drifted a cross-shot over the bar as the visitors tried to recover from a position which would have been unthinkable at the break but worse was yet to come, the Taunton defence giving way like a rotten pumpkin allowing Alfie Stanley to square from the left for Bradley Tarbuck to sidefoot home a third for the hosts after 69 minutes.

There was no way back for an increasingly disjointed Peacocks who had now lost their confidence and cohesion. Kavanagh’s strike was deflected wide before Borough added a fourth goal on 78 minutes, Morrison’s long clearance finding Stanley in behind and spotting Parkes off his line his lob from the right flank dropped into the net to darken the mood further. Moulden, who was Town’s best player on the day, did see his shot from inside the box held by Gosney but the damage had been done and to rub salt deeper into the wound Yearwood despatched a penalty one minute from time after Parkes’ leg had brought him down as he latched on to Kian Towse’s through ball, concluding a Privett Park nightmare.

Line-Ups

Taunton: Adam Parkes, Eddie Jones (Opi Edwards 76), Ollie Woodhouse, Toby Down, Tom Smith (captain), Jake Hodgson, Alfie Moulden, David Duru (Tom Purrington 63), Jayden Nielsen, Jack Matthews (Morgan Lewis 63), Aysa Corrick. Unused subs: Will Merrett, Harris Feltham

Gosport: Ryan Gosney, Harry Kavanagh, Finley Walsh-Smith, Joe Morrison, Asher Yearwood, Dan Wooden (Kian Towse 84), Sam Faniyan (Charlie Wassmer 45), Jake Cope (Bradley Tarbuck 45), Paul Agbeseyi, Harry Lee (Rory Williams 90+4), Cameron Murray (Alfie Stanley 45)

Officials

Referee: Joshua Langley-Fineing (Eastbourne)
Referee’s Assistant 1: Harry Redman (Gosport)
Referee’s Assistant 2: Adrian Knight (Southampton)

Attendance

550

Reaction

” We lost all control …………” watch the reaction of assistant manager Steve Murray on Peacocks TV HERE

Highlights

Match highlights TBC

Photos

Match photos from club photographer Debbie Gould can be viewed HERE

Taunton Town MOM

Alfie Moulden receives the Taunton Town Man Of The Match award from Club Director Lloyd Irish