“I knew it was in the back of the net before he struck it.”

That was the honest statement from Sholing manager Dave Diaper after Saints fan and Southampton barber Adam Wilde curled in an outstanding free-kick at Fratton Park to help Gosport Borough win the Hampshire Senior Cup in last night’s final.

The Portswood-based winger, who has been a Saints supporter since he was eight, was on target for the second goal at the home of Southampton’s fierce rivals Portsmouth after prolific Borough striker Justin Bennett had netted the opener from the penalty spot.

Bennett’s strike partner, ex-Saint Matt Paterson, was then on target to fire the Conference South side to victory over Diaper’s Southern League South & West side from two leagues below.

It was a soft penalty that saw Sholing go behind early on, but Diaper wasn’t about to blame the referee.

“We talked about it and I said ‘you’ve got to keep it tight for the first 15 minutes’,” he said. “For things like free-kicks, penalties, things like that – otherwise we’re going to be up against it.

“I thought we recovered really well from the first goal and did well to get back into the game.

“But once again it was a free-kick.

“I said before the game watch out for Adam Wilde, I know Adam very well, he’s lethal from 25-yards – especially centrally.

“But, lo and behold, two set-pieces and two goals.

“It was the timing of the goals that was crucial – just after the start and not long after half-time.”

That early set-back left Sholing chasing the game before Wilde then doubled the lead early in the second period.

Diaper was fearing the inevitable as Borough won the free-kick 25 yards out and the experienced attacker step-up.

“I warned the players about him and it was a poor free-kick, but that’s football,” he said.

“I knew it was in the back of the net before he (Wilde) struck it.”

“It’s the finishing is the difference,” he continued. “Their two frontmen have scored more goals than my whole team have scored all season.

“When you’ve got that firepower at your disposal, then it’s a big difference.”

It was a sucker punch to concede so early for Diaper.

“Your game plan goes out the window and we haven’t got the firepower that they’ve got,” he said.

“Their two players upfront have scored 56 goals between them, so obviously it was going to be tough.

“I thought we kept our shape and for 60 minutes I thought we were fine – no problems.

“It was the second goal that killed us, mentally more than anything because obviously you’ve got to get back into the game.

“We haven’t got the firepower, so obviously it was going to be difficult.”

But Diaper wasn’t about to wallow in any kind of self-pity after losing out to Borough, who finished three points off the play-offs in the Conference South.

“Credit to the lads,” he said. “One or two of them out there are quite young – so to lose to a team from two leagues above that just missed out on the play-offs, there’s no shame in that at all.”