AFC Portchester have had some memorable days in the national cup competitions down the years and the 2-1 win over Taunton Town will be joining that list.

Veteran Royals fans remember fondly the home FA Cup win against Dorchester in 2017 and away wins in the same competition at Bideford in 2016 and Bristol Manor Farm in 2015.

Saturday’s victory in the Third Qualifying Round of the Isuzu FA Trophy will also be mentioned in Portchester folklore in years to come – this win was that good.

Collectively as a team Gav Spurway’s side were excellent – you’d be hard pushed to single out any individual player for a man of the match award as everyone involved had to be at their best to get this result against a strong Step 3 Taunton outfit.

Resolute defending and a high work rate were the orders of the day and every player performed that excellently and they soaked up a lot of pressure created by the visitors in the final quarter of the match. 

There was still a stiff breeze blowing across The OnSite Group Stadium – the tail end of Storm Amy after much windier conditions overnight – and that contributed to Portchester’s first chance of the game on seven minutes.

Taunton could not fully clear their lines and after the ball had looped up in the air several times it eventually found its way to Alfie Stanley and his shot flew wide of the target.

At the other end a deep cross into the box found its way to Kane Simpson, who tried to flick his header past Steven Mowthorpe but the Royals keeper was able to comfortably gather the ball.

Portchester took the lead on 12 minutes when the ball was played into the penalty area from the right and it was held up in the wind. When it dropped Connor Duffin controlled it excellently before hitting a low shot past keeper Frankie Phillips and into the net.

Both sides traded chances as the first half went by. On 23 minutes Taunton played a one-two with a free kick just outside the penalty area but Alfie Moulden put his shot straight at Mowthorpe.

Stanley went close to scoring at the other end a minute later when the ball was played up to him on the edge of the penalty area and although his shot beat Phillips it flew narrowly wide.

On the half hour mark good play by the visitors on the left saw the ball worked inside to Jack Rice on the edge of the box and his effort was deflected but that saw the ball drop straight to Mowthorpe.

Taunton’s best chance of the first half came on 37 minutes when a long clearance was allowed to bounce a couple of times by the home defence and it fell into Owen Brain’s path, who hit a low shot which Mowthorpe had to get down quickly to save.

The visitors only had to wait until five minutes into the second half before they got back on level terms. Matt Carson picked up the ball on the left hand side of the penalty area and when he hit a shot towards goal it took a deflection off a defender and that took the ball past Mowthorpe’s dive and into the net.

However, the Royals were back in front again two minutes later. They won possession of the ball off of the visiting defence and Duffin then played it through into the path of Stanley, who guided his low shot under Phillips and into the net.

Portchester had some good chances to extend their lead further after this. On 61 minutes Tommy Scutt broke clear of the defence and played the ball to Stanley in front of goal but as he looked to fire the ball into the net an excellent last ditch tackle from a defender prevented what looked a certain goal.

Two minutes later Calvin Davies tried to curl his free kick from 25 yards out into the net but he put his shot straight into the keeper’s hands and Duffin then latched on to a long ball into the penalty area but his header dropped wide.

Taunton were getting plenty of balls into the box to try and force their way back on to level terms and on 71 minutes Joe Hatch went past two defenders on the left hand side of the box but Mowthorpe comfortably smothered his shot.

Portchester went so close to getting the third goal on 85 minutes which would have allowed them to see out the remainder of the game comfortably. Charlie Williamson played the ball to Scutt, who let fly with a shot from 35 yards out and Phillips managed to get his finger tips to the ball to divert it on to the top of the crossbar.

Taunton had the chance to send this tie into a penalty shoot-out in the third minute of injury time when a cross from the right found its way to Jake Hodgson when it held up in the wind but he smashed his shot wide.