US Portsmouth boss Quirke salutes his side’s effort in ‘David v Goliath’ Wessex League encounter with AFC Portchester

Coming into the game, the Royals had won all nine of their Premier Division fixtures while US had suffered five successive home league defeats.

Both those records were duly extended, with Portchester winning 3-1 thanks to goals from Brett Pitman (2) and Harrison Brook.

Given the quality in the Portchester squad, and the fact USP don’t have a playing budget, the result was no shock whatsoever.

But Quirke was left feeling a ‘tinge of disappointment’ that his side didn’t become the first one to take points off the Wessex Premier table-toppers.

Asked to sum up his side’s display, he said: ‘It was ok, considering we were playing a side that had won nine out of nine.

‘It was a pretty daunting task on paper, and if you’d asked me before the game I’d probably have taken a 3-1 defeat. But I was a little disappointed we didn’t squeeze a point out of it. It was tinged with disappointment.’

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‘I said it was a free hit, but that doesn’t mean you can just go through the motions and take what’s coming. A free hit is where there are zero expectations of winning but you go out and be the best you can be and be competitive.

‘The lads weren’t overawed, they acquitted themselves well.’

Quirke lost one midfielder, Danny Burroughs, before the game when he failed a fitness test on a hamstring injury. He then saw another one - dual-signed Portchester youngster Harvey Aston - go off after 20 minutes with a calf problem.

Vinny McGee, who himself has been out injured recently, came on for Aston in the centre of midfield.

‘We made life difficult for them before they scored,’ said Quirke.

George Barker, who had scored a hat-trick in last April’s 3-0 league win at USP, this time claimed two assists as a Pitman double put Portchester in control.

The opening goal came when US keeper Charlie Shepherd could only parry a deflected shot, Pitman on hand to gobble up the rebound.

‘I challenged the players at half-time to not lose the second half,’ said Quirke. ‘Within a few minutes we were 3-0 down and you feared that would open the floodgates.

‘But the lads rallied well, they got tight and compact again. For large periods of the second half we were the better side.’

Simon Woods replied, against his former club, when Royals keeper Amadeusz Skrzyniarz dropped an Ash Thompson cross under pressure from his own defender Charlie Williamson.

‘We had put them under a lot of pressure for 10/15 minutes,’ said Quirke. ‘That pressure culminated in their mistake.’

He summed up: ‘There’s no getting away from it, they have spent a significant amount of money.

‘They have got a squad that should go deep in the FA Vase and finish in the top two of the Wessex League, if not win it.

‘That’s a million miles away from what we’re trying to achieve, which is to finish top of the bottom third.’

US Portsmouth host two tiers lower Denmead on Tuesday in a Russell Cotes Cup tie.

Burroughs and Aston won’t feature but Sam Emeney and Brandon Jewell will be available again.

‘We can ill afford to put out a team that’s not competitive,’ declared Quirke. ‘There won’t be a massive amount of squad rotation.’

Denmead have form against Wessex Premier clubs - knocking Portchester out of the Portsmouth Senior Cup in 2019/20.

They have won five of their seven Hampshire Premier League Senior Division games in 2022/23, and won 2-0 at lower tier AFC Petersfield in Saturday’s George Mason Memorial Shield tie.