Southern League Premier South – Saturday 17th January 2026
Berkhamsted 1 vs 0 Basingstoke Town Attendance 528
Where: Glencar Community Stadium, Lower Kings Road, Berkhamsted, Herts. HP4 2AL
Manager Dan Brownlie went with a line-up of: 1. Simon Grant, 2. James Clark, 3. Joe O’Loughlin, 4. Josh Green, 5. Scott Armsworth, 6. Billy Upton (Capt), 7. Thomas Blake, 8. D’Andre Brown, 9. George Reid, 10. Joe Barough, 11. Robbie Gallagher
On the bench: 12. Cheick Sylla, 14. Elliott Legg, 15. Ben Cook, 14. Lloyd Snell, 17. James Dickson
Referee – Alfie Finch-Critchley
With the pitch as expected, wet and tacky, this intriguing match with just two places between them got underway and the opening minutes saw the homeside on top and create but miss a good chance, as the shot went fortunately wide.
Berkhamsted continued to push for the opening goal, and a shot was cleared off the line by Scott Armsworth.
Stoke’s first attack came from a free-kick, as Tom Blake was hauled back by the Berkhamsted No.5, who went in the book. The kick by D’Andre Brown, although beating the wall, was held comfortably by the keeper.
Stoke had some more pressure around Berkhamsted’s penalty area, but the homeside then broke fifty yards and a shot forced Simon Grant to block the ball out for a corner.
Just before the half-hour mark, the homeside were then reduced to ten men, after their No.5 made a heavy challenge on Robbie Gallagher, and he was shown a second-yellow.
Billy Upton won a header from a corner, but it flew over the bar, onto the roof of the net.
Stoke continued to win more possession in Berkhamsted’s final third, but failed to trouble their keeper.
The referee allowed two minutes of added-time before blowing the halftime, on what was a less than enthralling first-half.
Halftime Score: Berkhamsted 0 vs 0 Basingstoke Town
The game restarted with Stoke attacking the river end of the ground, but again the pitch continued to impede good passing plays, despite the attempts of Gallagher & Reid down the wings.
It was time for Stoke to make a change and Joe Barough was replaced by Cheick Sylla (62 mins).
It was Gallagher with a neat turn and shot, but the ball flew a yard wide of the left-hand post.
It was still Stoke looking the team pushing for a goal, but Berkhamsted broke and their forward beat two defenders before sliding the ball past Grant in goal, and we went behind Berkhamsted 1-0 Basingstoke
This produced a double-change by Stoke, as Ben Cook replaced Josh Green, and Lloyd Snell replaced D’Andre Brown (71 mins).
Berkhamsted had another break but the shot was poor and flew five yards wide.
It was noticeable that the homeside had not only dropped deeper but seemed to instigate time-wasting tactics, as some of their players went down for the slightest thing, which the referee seemed to allow.
Stoke were to then make another change as Elliott Legg replaced Scott Armsworth (74 mins).
The game continued to be stifled by the Berkhamsted defenders, but we had also run out of ideas, on how to break this team down, as we went into the final minutes of normal time.
The referee announced a minimum of seven added-minutes and three minutes in Berkhamsted broke from our pressure, and a shot was saved by Grant in goal.
Stoke had one more attack in them, but the shot blazed over the bar.
The referee had seen enough and Stoke went down to defeat.
Fulltime Score: Berkhamsted 1 vs 0 Basingstoke Town
Harding 67 mins,
Match Thought’s
Although it was good the game went ahead, the pitch did not allow for flowing football, and this really hampered us, despite us having a man advantage for two-thirds of the game, we failed to create enough chances, and Berkhamsted were allowed to stifle the game through a lot of time-wasting tactics. Never seen so many weak free-kicks given by a poor referee, but we lacked ideas as well.
With Tiverton’s pitch likely to be the far worse, we will need to find away to create more chances.
Up Next:
Back on the road this Tuesday (weather permitting), we travel to Tiverton Town (20th) with a 7.45pm KO
Match Report by Martin French..
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