THE world of football was today mourning the death of one of the south's most talented professional soccer players.

Portsmouth Football Club goalkeeper Aaron Flahavan, who grew up and lived in Southampton, died in a car crash yesterday.

The 25-year-old lost control of his BMW 318 Coupe shortly after midnight as he was driving along the A338 in Bournemouth, Dorset.

The car crossed the central reservation of the dual carriageway before rolling and coming to rest in a field near the Littledown leisure centre.

Flahavan, from Netley, was pronounced dead at the Royal Bournemouth General Hospital. No other vehicles were involved.

Only last week the youngster, who twice fainted during games for Portsmouth, was receiving specialist treatment in London for heart trouble. Police investigations are likely to focus on whether he blacked out at the wheel. Flahavan was a spectator for Saturday's friendly against Leicester, but was expected to start in this weekend's Division One opener at Wolves.

Portsmouth club chairman Milan Mandaric said: "It's a sad day for all of us. Aaron was a nice young lad and a very good athlete.

"It's a tragedy not only for Portsmouth but for the whole world of football in the south of England.

"He was a very popular player and it's so sad that he didn't have the time to taste life properly."

Ironically Flahavan, who came up through the Pompey youth system and went on to play more than 100 games for the club, started out as a full-back for the Southampton-based Tyro League team Westwood Wasps.

"One Sunday the goalkeeper was injured and I went in goal," he recalled in a Daily Echo interview published in 1994 when he signed professional forms at Fratton Park.

"Alan Ball was Pompey manager at the time, and Westwood Wasps' manager, Ken Deacon, asked if they would like to take a look at me and I started attending the Pompey school of excellence."

A student at Bitterne Park School, he represented Southamp-ton Schools at under-14 and under-15 level and played for Jewson Wessex League club Aerostructures, before being taken on as a Portsmouth trainee.

Dennis Huxtable, who was manager of Southampton Schools' under-14s, said: "It's a terrible shock to hear of Aaron's death. He was always a very good goalkeeper. He was courageous and his handling was exceptional."

Portsmouth boss Graham Rix today also paid tribute.

"It's really sad. I feel for his family, he was a really smashing young lad," he told the club's official website."

Mike Maber of Dorset Police said: "A post mortem examination will be held and there will be an inquest into the accident.''

Tributes to Pompey goalkeeper, see Sport on Monday free with today's Daily Echo.