Opposition preview: Gosport Borough

City take on Gosport in their first game of the new league season on Saturday.

The start of an exciting new campaign sees City reunited with a team they played four times on their way to the play-off final last time out.

Between them they drew twice and it was a win a piece, with Gosport going through in the FA Cup and City getting a fine win in the league.

The Boro finished 12th in a solid 24/25 campaign, after making the play off semi finals the year before.

Losing key man Asher Yearwood to Maidenhead is a key blow heading into the new campaign, but the club have recruited well to put themselves in a good position.

Manager: Danny Hollands

A player at the club he also manages, Hollands has enjoyed a career spanning over 20 years, playing for the likes of Bournemouth, Portsmouth and Charlton along the way.

Hollands took charge in January of this year, when the previous managers left for Poole Town, much to the disappointment of Gosport fans.

Danny Hollands playing for AFC Bournemouth

An inconsistent period led to uncertainty as to where the club would finish, such was the competition in the mid-table last term, but Gosport settled in a comfortable 12th.

Key player: Ethan Taylor

With the departure of key man and top scorer Yearwood, a lot will be discovered as to who replaces his goals.

Taylor will certainly look to be the man, with experience of scoring at this level last year with AFC Totton.

Ethan Taylor during his spell at AFC Totton

The man who scored the winner in the play off final, Taylor has decided to stay in the division and take on the challenge of helping Gosport climb the league this year.

Having scored over 80 goals in Totton’s rise from step four to National League football, his threat is clear, and he will be hoping to set the bar high and hit such numbers at his new club once more.

Pre-season form: WWLWWW

A brilliant pre season for Saturdays visitors has seen them scoring for fun and only losing the once, showing the threat they will pose at the weekend.

They started things with a 7-2 win over Horndeand kept the momentum going, with a win over Lewes in their final outing.

Last meeting: City 2-2 Gosport

The last meeting was on the final day of last season. With both sides assured of where they’d finish, City rested players ahead of their play off game.

That didn’t stop them racing into a 2-0 lead through Harry Burns and an own goal after barely 10 minutes.

However Gosport wrestled themselves back into the game through Yearwood, as he struck with 25 minutes to go halving the deficit.

With time running out, he got an equaliser, as Harry Emmett was shown red and a penalty awarded to Boro, which he duly converted.