Our place in the Third Round Qualifying of the FA Cup is firmly secured after a comfortable 4-1 win in Sholing yesterday afternoon.
Goals from Josh McQuoid and Tom Bearwish within the first 20 minutes put us firmly in the driving seat, before Will Buse made an unlucky error five minutes before halftime.
But the hosts’ goal didn’t appear to faze us in the second half, with goals from Harry Jones and Tom Bearwish putting us one step closer to the first round proper.
Due to Gerard Benfield being cup-tied and Billy Terrell’s injury, our new addition between the sticks, who joined last week on a month-long loan deal from Y*ovil Town, made his first start.
We were also blessed with Keelan O’Connell’s return to the matchday squad, the winger having not played since the opening day.
The home fans appeared up for the big occasion before the start of the match, and appeared further encouraged with their side’s early chances.
Will had a succession of strikes to keep out within the first 10 minutes, the first being a relatively tame edge-of-box effort from Jake Hesketh.
The Boatmen’s next sight at goal was a little more threatening; Dan Mason was fed a low cross by Charlie Gunson from the left by-line, and may have given his side the lead had Will not kept out his close-range toe-poke.
Our first succession of openings occurred just before the quarter-hour mark, when Ross Warner pushed Jordan Maguire-Drew’s strike behind.
The subsequent corner-kick met the head of Andreas Robinson, who headed just wide.
Our response to the hosts’ threat was perhaps a sign of things to come.
It was!
It had been 16 minutes gone when Josh rounded Worner and comfortably slotted the ball into the net.
With us being a goal up, our good fortunes wouldn’t stop there.
Charlie was the player to reach his head to a free-kick delivery, his looping header gently flying over Worner to double our lead after just 20 minutes.
By this time we were firmly in the driving seat, and could have made it three just two minutes later, when Tom headed just wide from close-range.
Tom remained at the forefront of our attacking threat as the half progressed to the half-hour mark, this time creating chances, as he fed Euan Pollock twice in as many minutes.
The first came after a menacing dribble from Tom inside the box found Euan, who saw his close-range strike kept out.
Euan was found again, now on the edge of the box, only to send his effort to the left of goal.
Then, what looked to remain a comfortable half changed under surprising circumstances, Will unluckily spilling Gunson’s long-range strike five minutes before halftime.
With our lead now halved, The Boatmen had the opportunity to steady their ship.
The second half nearly saw our lead wiped out when Hesketh chested the ball down and hit the bar on the half-volley.
But, thankfully, any fears over losing control in this game were put to bed when substitute Harry Jones struck from the edge of the box.
The loanee, who returned to the club this week, saw his shot deflected and slowly roll past the wrong-footed Worner to double our lead once again with half-an-hour left.
But, despite the hosts’ deficit being doubled, they remained a threat, as shown when Jordon Thompson had to clear away a low-cross eight minutes later.
Our defence would have to remain resolute, as we bravely headed away Brad Targett’s strike with just 12 minutes remaining.
But, in the 85th minute, the game was firmly put to bed when Tom headed in a pinpoint accurate Brooklyn-Genesini cross for our fourth of the game
With us now in the Third Round Qualifying of the FA Cup, our step towards the First Round proper looms on the horizon.
Our chance to do that takes place on Saturday 28 September, away to either Hungerford Town or Winchester City [15.00 BST].
