Ben Kneller’s side returned to winning ways in midweek with a 5-0 victory over Locks Heath in the Portsmouth Senior Cup - a competition which the team won under Shaun Gale last season.

With the exception of a few youth players, the majority of the lineup consisted of regular starters. The five goals which secured Boro’s spot in the second round came from Harvey Rew, Dan Wooden, Bradley Tarbuck, Abdulai Baggie and Kyal Williams. Ben Kneller said “we wanted to make sure that it’s a repetition of shape and style of play which we want to implement going forward” about the victory.

Kneller hopes to use the confidence and morale boost from the emphatic win to collect all three points from Yate Town on Saturday afternoon, and return to winning league form after 9 games without a win.

“We’ve got to apply ourselves the same way we have against Chesham…and if we have the ability to keep the back door shut, we have the opportunity of taking something away from Yate tomorrow.

“We need to take points off people that are around us, and we need to start getting some points on the board, so we if we can apply ourselves in the same way as against Chesham, and have that free-flowing attacking threat that we’ve got, we’ll be okay.

A victory could lift Boro’ into 16th place, if results elsewhere all align. The Bluebells, managed by recently appointed John Rendell, currently sit second from bottom with one victory in the last 9.

“They’ve made 4 or 5 new signings from Paulton Rovers; I understand the Paulton Rovers management have gone over to Yate so they’ve strengthened in recent weeks so they’ll be looking to push forward. As much as we have strengthened with Harry [Medway] and Brett [Williams].

Gosport Borough have already measured up against Rendell once this season, when he took his Paulton Rovers side into a home-replay of the Emirates FA Cup Second Round Qualifying and came out the victors to progress in the competition.

Team News

Harvey Rew will be eligible to take part in league action for the first time since his dismissal away at Hendon Town, and new signings Harry Medway and Brett Williams will also be available to travel.

Harry Kavanagh and Billie Busari are both fit for selection after departing the field early during last Saturday’s match against Chesham.

Andreas Robinson is still unavailable and out of training, having had a scan this week which will hopefully help Kneller and his coaching staff understand the severity of his injury, and an estimated time for his return to the field.

Matthew Briggs will miss out this weekend through injury and Patrick O’Flaherty remains sidelined for 4-5 weeks with a broken rib.

Earlier this week, Salisbury FC have made a formal approach for the signing Dan Wooden. The Boro’ top goalscorer has declared his commitment to Privett Park for the remainder of this season and next.

“Dan’s local, he bleeds yellow and blue - they call him the King of Privett….it’s very important to him to be local and he wants to see the club do well. He’s adamant to stay during tough times and be around for the good times, so Dan is the sort of people we want around”, says Kneller on Woodens decision to remain at the club.

Fans can follow the action from Yate Town on the Gosport Borough Twitter Page from 3pm.