Portland1 0Sholing

Scorer : Lewis Clarke 9

Date : Saturday 8th April 2017 - 3:00pm - Sydenhams Wessex Premier

Venue : Weyline Stadium

Portland United : Sean Lillington, Ash Smith, Crit Clarke, Ross Carmichael, Lewis Whyton [c], Max Buckler, Ross Doidge, Alex Halloran, Lewis Clarke, Darren Watts, Ryan McKechnie.  Subs: Alex Godfrey, Ed Bastick, Shaun Bessant & Josh Camp

Yellow Card : ?

Sholing : Ryan Gosney, TJ Cuthbertson, Marv McLean, Luke Dempsey, Dan Miller, Micky Hubbard, Brady Norton (Zac Mouland 76), Byron Mason [c], Dan Mason (Nick Yeomans 82), Barry Mason (Jake Hoole 63), Owen Royl. Subs not used : Kev Brewster & Owen Roundell

Yellow Card : Brady Norton, Marv McLean, Byron Mason

Attendance : 219

Man of the Match : Marv McLean

Referee : Ross Murphy  Assistants : Daniel Burke & William Buchanan

Sholing were defeated by 2nd place Portland in a disappointing game that had a very end of season feeling to it. 

Team News: Lee Wort & Jamie Bulpitt missed out through injury. Barry Mason started up front with brother, Dan, whilst Brady Norton made his debut on the left of midfield.  Pre-match prep wasn't ideal, with heavy easter traffic meaning the team arrived 45 mins before kick off.

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The sun was shining at Portland's nicely appointed ground with an excellent pitch, although there was a marked difference of temperatures between sun and shade for the large crowd watching on.  The opening was even, but on 9 minutes, Portland took the lead when a slip in defence allowed the home team in behind and a square ball picked out Lewis Clarke, who had the time and space to pick his spot in the bottom corner.

This gave the home side confidence and they created a couple of opportunities that were put wide or over after a good build-up.  Game became increasingly stop-start, with a harsh yellow card for Norton which was followed by one for Marv.  It took Sholing until the 34th minute to threaten the home goal when a nice move down the right ended with a cross to Dan Mason who had pulled away from his marker, but he skewed his shot a yard wide.

Micky Hubbard received an elbow to the head right in front of the referee, but, incredibly, nothing was given and Byron got booked for his frustation.  HT 1-0

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The second half had to be better than the first.... but it wasn't.  On 56 mins, Dan Mason cut past two defenders into the box, but his shot was blocked and sadly, that was it for Sholing's attacking game as the strong Portland defence mopped up everything thrown at them.  Ryan Gosney did well to get down to save a low shot and Portland put over a free header from 6 yards and that was the sum total of the second half action.

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Portland were more than happy to see out the match to get the 3 points to keep them in touch with the league leaders.  Sholing slipped to their 6th defeat of the season on the road, with the away form being the club's achilles heel this campaign.  FT 1-0

Next Game : Brockenhurst v Sholing - Saturday 15th April 3pm

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