Twenty debutants in first five games of the season – Baffins boss makes 11 changes in Hampshire Senior Cup win

He handed three players their first competitive start in a 4-2 home victory over lower tier Ringwood in the first round of the Hampshire Senior Cup.

Another three got their first senior minutes as second half subs - taking the number of players who have made their competitive Baffins debut in the first five games of 2022/23 to a staggering 20.

Baffins led 4-0 at half-time against a Ringwood side who have won their opening three Wessex Division 1 games.

Tom Vincent, the striker signed on a dual registration from Winchester City, struck twice after Dillon North and Alpay Ali had netted in the opening 10 minutes.

‘It was nice to get another win for the confidence,’ declared Thompson, who had fielded a totally different starting XI in last Saturday’s FA Cup win against Horndean.

‘We will be taking the FA competitions (the FA Cup and the FA Vase) seriously, but in the other cups we can shuffle the pack.

‘If you don’t use the players you’ve got, they will end up leaving.

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‘As you can see, we’ve got a large squad and last night showed the strength in depth that we’ve got.

‘We dominated the first half, we played them off the park.’

Last night, the five Portsmouth area managers made a total of 32 changes for their HSC ties.

No-one made more - could have made more - than Thompson, with Horndean making eight changes at Brockenhurst.

Moneyfields made seven changes at Bournemouth Poppies, while US Portsmouth made four at Eversley & California.

In contrast to Thompson, Fareham boss Graham Rix made just two changes for their 1-0 home win over Alton.

Centre half Louis Udeh, who had been at Horndean in pre-season, left-back Kyle Harttt, 17, and central midfielder Zak Brownlie were all handed their Baffins debuts from the off.

Matt Philbeam, just 16, Nick Awford - son of Pompey legend Andy - and Angelo Harris, 17, came off the bench for their debuts.

Baffins now host Portsea Island rivals US Portsmouth in the second round in the week beginning September 12.