Hampshire Snr Cup Qtr-Final – Tuesday 4th April 2023
AFC Portchester 0 v 1 Basingstoke Town Attendance 231
Where: The OnSite Group Stadium, Cranleigh Road, Portchester. PO16 9DP
Stoke Have Just Enough To Progress in Hampshire Snr Cup
Dan Brownlie’s cup line-up tonight was: 1. Mark Scott, 2. Ben Mason, 3. Dan Williamson, 4. Anton Rodgers, 5. Nathan Smart, 6. Billy Upton, 7. Bradley Wilson, 8. D’Andre Brown (Capt), 9. Stefan Brown, 10. McKoy Palmer, 19. Sam Argent
On the bench: Scott Armsworth, Prince Da Cruz, Noah Chengun, Ethan Abreheart & Joe Redmond
Referee – TBC
In a much changed line-up from Saturday’s game, and on a bumpy pitch, Stoke’s push for progression in the Hampshire Cup got underway with us attacking the carpark end and within the first minute, we break, but Stefan Brown misses a good chance, as he clips the ball over the bar from close range.
Portchester, then created a couple of reasonable chances, one which was ballooned over and one blocked in front of goal.
Bradley Wilson was then sent away down the left and he cut inside the penalty area and hit a shot, that took a deflection and bounced onto the top of the bar and over for a corner.
Both sides attacks were clearly affected by the uneven pitch, as the game progressed, which were not helped by some poor refereeing decisions for both sides, which included calls for handball inside the penalty area from the small Stoke contingent behind the goal as Wilson’s cross was virtually picked up by a Portchester defender.
Just past the half-hour Wilson broke down the left and his cross was initially blocked to Palmer who hit a shot that was blocked on the line, and the ball rebounded to D’Andre Brown who hit a volleyed shot that the keeper was able to save.
Portchester came forward again and created two more shots that Mark Scott in goal made decent saves.
The referee played just one minute of injury-time before blowing the halftime whistle on a half that both teams missed chances.
Halftime – AFC Portchester 0 v 0 Basingstoke Town
With the temperature dropping, the game gets back underway and Stoke pushed for the opener, which came on the fifty-third minute, as Sam Argent found Wilson on the left who took his defender on inside the penalty area, before sliding the ball across the face of the goal, to where McKoy Palmer who hit a mistimed shot that was still enough to find the corner of the net. GOAL! AFC Portchester 0 – 1 Basingstoke Town (Palmer 53 mins)
Stoke continued to push forward over the next few minutes, but were unable to put a real shot on target.
Portchester were far from finished, and created a nice attack and shot that Scott again saved.
We made our first change, with McKoy Palmer being replaced by Noah Chengun (68 mins).
Portchester created another chance as a shot, which Scott thought was over the bar, dips and hits the bar and flies out for a goal-kick. Another chance goes missing as a Portchester player falls over with the ball literally at Scott’s feet.
We make our second change with Scott Armsworth replacing Sam Argent (79 mins).
Portchester are looking for an equaliser and push forward over the last ten minutes and create a number of attempts, but mostly flew over the bar.
Stoke made their final change on 87 minutes with Anton Rodgers being replaced by Joe Redmond.
Nathan Smart also went in the book, along with Noah Chengun in this time.
We are able to play out five minutes of added-time, before the referee has seen enough and blows the final whistle, as Stoke get back to winning ways and progress in the cup.
Full-time Score: AFC Portchester 0 v 1 Basingstoke Town
Palmer 53 mins,
Match Thought’s
Not the best of games, which was not helped by a poor pitch, Stoke had just enough to progress to the semi-finals, behind Mckoy’s finish.
Up Next:
Another crucial and probably must-win game to stay in the title race, as we host Southall this Good Friday afternoon at Winklebury.
Match Report by Martin French..
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