Match Report: Basingstoke Town 0 – 1 Hanworth Villa Saturday 25th March 2023

Isthmian South Central Division – Saturday 25th March 2023
Basingstoke Town 0 v 1 Hanworth Villa Attendance 1,028
Where: Winklebury Sports Complex, Winklebury Way, Basingstoke. RG23 8BF
Stoke Fail To Find The Net As Loss Cuts Our Lead To One Point
Dan Brownlie’s line-up today: 1. Paul Strudley, 2. Markus Johnson-Schuster, 3. Callum Winchcombe, 4. Michael Atkinson, 5. Billy Upton, 6. Scott Armsworth, 7. Bradley Wilson, 8. Simon Dunn (Capt), 9. Paul Hodges, 11. George Reid, 19. Sam Argent,
On the bench: James Clark, Ben Cook, Brody Peart, D’Andre Brown & Nathan Smart
Referee – Mitchell Terry

We headed into the final crucial six games of the season, as we hosted Hanworth Villa in front of a huge crowd at Winklebury, and we immediately attacked down the left wing, and won a corner, only for the referee 15 yards from the play, to look to the linesman 60 yards away to make the decision, who awards the goal-kick.

Sam Argent’s first contribution is a headed clearance from a Villa free-kick.
Stoke are still the side pushing forward, but work from Paul Hodges and Argent does not result in an attack on the keeper, until a shot from George Reid is blocked out for a corner. The kick falls initially to Argent whose shot is blocked away, which falls to Wilson, whose shot is closed down by his marker.

We move past the twenty-minute mark with us winning a number of free-kicks and corners on the left, but they do not produce a shot on the keeper.
Another corner from the left-hand side produces the pre-set move that allows Hodges a shot on target, but his shot from eight yards rebounds off the keepers legs on the line and Hanworth are able to hack the ball away.

Then on the half-hour Wilson is sent through but a tackle that looks like a free-kick is waived away by the referee.
Finally another heavy tackle from a Hanworth player results in the referee producing a yellow card. The free kick from Michael Atkinson wins a corner. The kick again produces goalmouth action, but Hanworth are able to get a defender in the way, then kick the ball clear.

Billy Upton then wins a header from a rare Hanworth break, then a minute later makes a timely diving interception to shut down a Hanworth break down the left.

Then with five minutes before the break, another foul, this time on Reid, produces another card for a Hanworth player. It is Reid who steps up around twenty-eight yards away and it beats the wall, but hits the far post flush in the middle and bounces away.
Hanworth still have time for another booking and the free-kick from Reid gain flies over the bar.

We are in the second minute of added-time we create another chance, but Reid’s from the left-hand side of the penalty area, is hit well, but agonizingly slides a yard wide of the right-hand post, and that’s the last action of a goal-less half, as the referee blows the halftime whistle.

Halftime – Basingstoke Town 0 v 1 Hanworth Villa
The game gets back underway and Villa break down the left and win a corner. Stoke are then punished from the corner, as we fail to clear our lines, and a half clearance falls to their tall No.8, who clips it back into the top corner of the net and we go a goal behind. Stoke 0-1 Hanworth.

Stoke attack minutes later, but a cross from Reid finds Wilson, whose header flies back across the face of the goal and out for a goal-kick.

Another chance goes begging, as we attack again down the right and the cross finds Argent whose header bounces into the ground and somehow over the bar from six yards.

News filters around the ground that Simon has given Walton the lead, which does little to help the feeling in the crowd.

Further attacks over the next few minutes, result in further corners, but Hanworth have them under control.
With twenty minutes gone, the crowd are restless and are looking for changes, and we make our first change on 67 minutes with Ben Cook replacing Sam Argent.

Hanworth have produced very little to deserve their lead, but we are struggling to create anything to worry their keeper, with fifteen minutes to go.

Calls for Peart to enter the game go unheeded, as we make our second change with James Clark replacing Michael Atkinson (76 mins).
Then a shot from outside the box from Reid, rebounds off the keeper, and a defender is able to beat us to the ball and hack the ball clear.
We make our third and final change on 84 minutes as Brody Peart replaces Markus Johnson-Schuster.

There’s little sign of us getting back into the game and some of the crowd are filtering out.
We are now in added-time and Hodges goes down in the box, but the referee awards a free-kick against him, rather than a penalty.
Peart goes on a run past two defenders, but the second takes his legs and we win a free-kick just outside the penalty area on the right. The kick by Reid flies past the wall but also the far post and out for a goal-kick.

We are now entering the fifth minute of added-time, and the referee has seem enough and blows the final whistle, on our first loss of 2023.

Full-time Score: Basingstoke Town 0 v 1 Hanworth Villa
                                                                  Crawford 46 mins

Match Thought’s
Many will have said our unbeaten run had to end at some point, and even if Hanworth were resilient in defence for most of the game, our main forwards failed to find the net once again and the lead is down to a point, as we head to Walton. Very disappointing day, but we now know the Walton game is even bigger now.
Up Next:
Our next league game is crunch-time as we face our title opponents Walton & Hersham on the road next Saturday. We do however host a North-Hants cup against Alresford Town this Tuesday evening.

Match Report by Martin French..