Debutants lead the charge as Royal Navy sink Bournemouth 4-1 in Hampshire Senior Cup
The Royal Navy senior men's squad have began their Hampshire Senior Cup campaign in dominating fashion after a 4-1 win over Bournemouth FC in Havant.
Using the first round of the Hampshire Senior Cup as their first game of the new season, the senior service brought a significant number of new players, with 11 of the 16-man squad making their Royal Navy debuts.
All three of the Navy's goal scorers were playing for their first cap. A brace from Craig Kingswell and two further goals from David Osei and Sam Fisher sealed the win over the Bournemouth Poppies.
The Navy started the match with fast pace and a combative game plan – and within minutes of the game starting, the Navy put on an impressive counter-attack.
Royal Navy under-23 graduate Will Gregory-Diana delivered into the box, with David Osei reacting quickest to complete a clean finish into the roof of the net from 10 yards out, putting himself straight onto the scoresheet after just three minutes of representative football.
With the opening goal in the bag, the game settled with both sides enjoying moments of possession and pressure, with the Navy happy to allow the Poppies possession where they knew they could do little damage.
The Poppies did create a chance minutes after the Navy's opener, however debutant goalkeeper Dylan Bond did an excellent job with deflecting that threat.
Bond was called upon again just before half time, tipping a shot from the edge of the box over the bar to ensure the Navy kept their 1-0 lead going into the half-time break.
The Navy continued applying the pressure when they returned after the break. Another debutant, Craig Kingswell, reacted quickest after Bournemouth's goalkeeper spilled a corner from Sean Powell and tapped home from close range.
Kingswell came up trumps again in the 64th minute, this time he was sharpest to react to the second phase following an excellent delivery from Quirke, to which Sam Fisher was right on target with his header for a 3-0 lead.
Dylan Bond produced the save of the night, deflecting away a Bournemouth volley from six yards out. The resulting corner however saw Bournemouth score to make it 3-1.
As the game went into injury time, substitute and debutant Sam Fisher exploited the space left behind from a charging Bournemouth side and held off the recovering defender to make it 4-1 and complete a brilliant first-round game for the Senior Service.
Lieutenant Commander Chris James, the Royal Navy head coach, said that he "couldn't be happier" with the team's performance.
He said: "We have done a huge amount of work over the summer to identify and scout new talent.
"Introducing so many new players at once, particularly straight into a competitive cup fixture, inevitably carried an element of risk.
"However, we were confident in our recruitment and believed we had identified players with the quality and character to represent the Royal Navy. This performance reinforced that belief."
The Royal Navy will progress on to round two of the Hampshire Senior Cup where they will play AFC Portchester on 20 October.
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