The Dolphins will not appreciate another week like last week. An away trip to Gloucester City on Saturday followed by the long trip to Taunton on Wednesday and finish the week with another journey south to Plymouth Parkway the following Saturday. We came out of it with 3 league points from Taunton and exited the FA Trophy after losing the penalty shoot-out at Plymouth 7-6.

So, much calmer waters this week with a little more recovery time and the home league fixture against Gosport Borough on Saturday ko3pm.

We have had injury doubts over Billy Lowes, Selim Saied, and Shaquille Gwengwe but Joe Lea has told me this week that all, except Billy Lowes are in contention to play.

We go into the match in 3^rd place (P13 W8 D3 L2 27points) and still unbeaten at home in the league. Of course, Pat Suraci and Joe Lea will need no introductions to the visitors who are in the chasing pack and currently in 6^th position. In mid-October the Borough board decided to make a change to their management structure which resulted in Glenn Howes taking full control of the first team with his assistant Mark Summerhill. Glenn is well known to us and wore the Dolphins red and white until his playing career was sadly brought to a premature end. Since then, he has been a very successful coach at Blackfield & Langley, Dorchester Town and now Gosport Borough.  As a player he represented Eastleigh, Basingstoke, Newport, Gosport, Dorchester and Poole. He has gained a great deal of experience at this level.

Gosport themselves are right there at the top end of the table and have already picked up away wins at Chertsey 3-1 and Weymouth 2-0. Only Gloucester City on 31, have scored more goals than Borough who have clocked up 30 so far with Ethan Taylor leading the way on 5. On Saturday they picked up a valuable point in their local derby at Sholing. It came with almost the last kick of the match from Ben Greenwood after something of a goalmouth scramble. The game ended 2-2.

Making a substitute appearance in that match was the Gosport legend Dan Wooden who first joined the club all the way back in 2010 after impressing coach Tony Stares during his time at Moneyfields. Operating as a left winger or striker, Woody helped the Boro to back-to-back promotions from the Southern League Division One South & West to the Conference South – both via the playoffs. The success kept on coming as well, with Dan featuring in the 2014 FA Trophy final at Wembley and in an FA Cup First Round tie against Colchester United. He finally returned to Privett Park this summer, much to the delight of their fans.

Gosport Borough

Current league position:       6^th P13 W6 D3 L4  Goals for 30 Against 23  GD+7  21points

Away form:                            P6 W2 D2 L2 8points

Last six matches’ form table: 4^th  P6 W4 D1 L1

Last Match;                            Sholing 2-2 (away Saturday 25^th October)

Last season:                          Privett Park  November 2024 Gosport Borough 3-1 Poole Town

                                              Black Gold   February 2025    Poole 0-1 Gosport Borough

Last season table:                12^th P42 W13 D12 L7 51points

The forecast is for some rain on Saturday but nothing will dampen the spirits of the Dolphins right now.

Enjoy the game,

Neil Wellington.