Manager Dan Brownlie took his squad down to the Snows Stadium to take on AFC Totton in the clubs latest pre-season friendly.
On what was one of the best grass pitches I have seen for some years, it was a rather cautious start for both sides, with neither side creating any clear chances of note and we went into the break goal-less.
Still neither team looked close to making the breakthrough until our keeper apparently pulled down a Totton player and the referee pointed to the spot, which Totton converted.
There was already a feisty feel to the game, which then turned aggressive, when a Totton defender made an awful tackle taking out one of the Stoke players. The referee had no alternative but to show the Totton player a straight red card.
When the game resumed minutes later, it was Stoke who pushed on to try and find an equaliser, but that final pass seemed missing, until the last few minutes of the game, when new signing Luis Le Paih was set-up and he made no mistake in putting the ball in the back of the net.
The referee blew the final whistle a few minutes later with the final score AFC Totton 1 – 1 Basingstoke Town.
Up Next: With our Tuesday night home friendly against Lymington Town cancelled, next Saturday we travel down to Dorset in our last pre-season friendly, as we take on Wimborne Town at the New Cuthbury ground.
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