FA Cup 1st Qualifying Rnd Replay – Tuesday 8th September 2026
AFC Stoneham 1 vs 0 Basingstoke Town Attendance TBC
Venue: Stoneham Lane, Eastleigh. So16 2PA1 7GA
Manager Dan Brownlie’s line-up for this huge FA Cup replay was: 1. Simon Grant, 2. Casey Bocarro, 3. Jonathan Gjoshe , 4. Christos Papkonstantinou, 5. Bernie Tanner, 6. Billy Upton (Capt), 7. Jeremiah Okine-Peters , 8. Louis McGrory, 9. Mile Obodo, 10. Tom Blake, 17. James Henry
On the bench: 12. Kysha Farquharson, 14. Alex Solomon, 15. Mihal Chiriac, 11. D’Andre Brown, 20. Lucas Welch
Referee – Samuel Wright
With the prospect of a mouth-watering trip to Torquay Utd in the next round, the game got underway, and it was the homeside who had the opening moment winning back-to-back corners, which we are able to defend.
Stoke’s first attack came in the sixth minute as Jeremiah Okine-Peters is first to a long ball over the top, but fails to get any power on his shot, and the ball rolled harmlessly to the Stoneham keeper.
Okine-Peters was to have Stoke’s next chance, as a neat through ball from Tom Blake, allowed him to run onto the ball, but again his shot did not match the move, and the keeper was untroubled, as the ball bounced easily to him.
Stoke continued to push forward down the left, and Christos was the architect of some of these plays, as a cross was initially headed by a Stoneham defender, to where Casey Bocarro got his head to the ball, but again it lacked power.
Very little to note, over the next ten minutes, except that Stoneham’s game-playing tactics were underway.
Stoneham, who have showed promise moving forwards, break down the left and are able to send a cross into the middle, and what appears a mix-up between a defender and our keeper, allowed a Stoneham player to put the ball in the net. AFC Stoneham 1-0 Basingstoke Town
Stoke were still struggling to get back in this game, and an offside call, prevents Stoneham from doubling their lead.
It was Stoneham once more, with a shot that forced Simon Grant to push the ball out for a corner on the left.
Stoke continued to struggle, to hold onto the ball, as misplaced passing was not helping our cause, and we played out four added-minutes, before the referee blew for halftime, with Stoke behind.
Halftime Score: AFC Stoneham 1 vs 0 Basingstoke Town
The second-half got back underway, with no changes by Basingstoke, and the first shot was from Stoneham, but fortunately flew wide of the left-hand post. Stoke continued to struggle to get anywhere near Stoneham’s penalty area, as Stoneham not only defended deep, but harried us into mistakes.
Our first half-chance came once more from good work from Christos, but his shot from the edge of the penalty area, flew comfortably over the bar,
Stoneham continued their time-wasting antics as we hit the hour-mark, and calls for a change in personnel were being resisted.
Stoke then created a half-chance, as we broke down the right, and the low cross found Tom Blake, whose first-time shot flew a foot wide of the right-hand post.
Apart from that Blake shot, Stoke struggled to create anything, not helped by poor passing, and a failure to hold onto the ball at key times, as Stoneham battled for every challenge.
That little bit of Stoke play, then saw Stoneham break, and in three passes, a shot went in that Grant saved down low.
Stoke finally made a change with less than fifteen minutes to go as Jonathan Gjoshe, was replaced by D’Andre Brown (76 mins).
This was followed by more crosses that don’t beat the first player, and we made our second change with Casey Bocarro being replaced by Alex Solomon (80 mins).
Stoke then had a shot that almost went out the ground.
Stoneham had one more attack, but Grant was out made the save.
Stoke won a corner on the right and Grant was up for it and the ball fell to him, but he could only his shot over the bar. Stoke then made its third change as Louis Mcrory was replaced by Kysha Farquharson (91 mins).
Then in the fourth minute of added-time, the ball finds Miles Obodo, but he failed to make any connection with left-foot, and Stoneham dealt with it.
A minute later we were out of the FA Cup for another season.
Fulltime Score: AFC Stoneham 1 vs 0 Basingstoke Town
Sampson 29 mins,
Match Thoughts
That was simply not good enough. We were out fought, lacked control of the ball at key times, and our finishing lacked power, corners and crosses failed to beat the first defender. Simply outplayed by Stoneham.
The financial hit to the club yet again will be noticed by one or two on the board, and very little for the supporters to cheer about once more.
Next:
We return to the league and head to Gloucester this Saturday (12th).
Match Report by Martin French..
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