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.