Southern League Premier South – Saturday 20th December 2025
Basingstoke Town 1 vs 0 Evesham United Attendance 526
Where: Winklebury Centre, Winklebury Way, Basingstoke. RG23 8BF
Manager Dan Brownlie’s line-up for this final league fixture before Christmas was: 1. Simon Grant, 2. James Clark, 3. Joe O’Loughlin, 4. Rudy Allen, 5. Scott Armsworth, 6. Billy Upton (Capt), 7. Robbie Gallagher, 8. Connor Harris, 9. Dan Rowe, 10. Conor Whiteley, 11. Connor Barratt
On the bench: 12. Ben Cook, 14. D’Andre Brown, 15. Elliott Legg, 16. James Dickson
Referee – Nathan Parry
With Simon Grant returning in goal, and a number of other enforced changes due to illness within the squad, our last game before Christmas got underway, and there was little to note in the opening ten minutes, but then a minute later Evesham broke into our penalty area, but a strong sliding block by Billy Upton, put the ball out for a corner.
On seventeen minutes, a long clearance by James Clark, found Dan Rowe, who beat his marker, but his shot could only find the side-netting.
Evesham had the next attack minutes later, but Grant was out to close the angle, and blocked the ball away.
Stoke were next to force a save out of a keeper, as a quickly-taken corner by Connor Barratt, was met by Scott Armsworth’s flicked header that forced the Evesham keeper to palm the ball away to new-signing Conor Whiteley, whose rebounded shot flew over the bar.
We hit the half-hour mark and more, and the chances appeared to have dried up, as both teams were struggling to find that final pass around each other’s penalty area.
The final attack to note in the first-half was from Stoke, but Armsworth’s shot flew wide of the post.
The game went to the break, unsurprisingly goal-less.
Halftime Score: Basingstoke Town 0 vs 0 Evesham United
With no changes by Stoke at the break, the second-half got underway, and it was the visitors who came close, as the corner-kick flicked off the post.
Grant was called into action, making the save on the hour-mark, but apart from the this the game was lacking any real quality.
Twenty minutes to go, and Stoke started to win more possession in midfield, but were still struggling to create any real openings, despite a shot from Whiteley, that flew wide.
Robbie Gallagher, started to get the upper-hand on his marker, winning two free-kicks in quick succession, the second from Connor Barratt that the keeper under pressure, punched clear, and Stoke recycled the ball back to Gallagher on the right, whose cross saw the Evesham keeper get a slight touch on the ball, as the ball fell to Upton, who took a quick controlled touch and then volleyed the ball home into the roof of the net GOAL! Basingstoke Town 1 – 0 Evesham United (Upton 77 mins)
With the Stoke fans still celebrating the goal, we made our first change of the day, as Dan Rowe was replaced by D’Andre Brown (80 mins).
Evesham showed no signs of getting back into the game, and Stoke made their second change as Connor Harris was replaced by Ben Cook (87 mins).
It was Stoke who looked the better team in the final minutes, but Evesham had one more attack in normal time, but fortunately the Evesham forwards shot flew five yards wide of the post.
We played out the six minutes plus of added-time, which included a strong save by Grant from an Evesham strikers volleyed shot, and the referee brought an end to the game, and Stoke go into Christmas back to winning ways.
Fulltime Score: Basingstoke Town 1 vs 0 Evesham United
Upton 77 mins,
Match Thought’s
A pretty average game, that saw both teams fail to entertain the pre-christmas crowd, but as a number of supporters called it before the game, this was a game for a Billy Upton winner, and they were proved right. Good to see Simon Grant back in goal, and Robbie Gallagher along with Rudy Allen were excellent in the second-half. Lots of players still to return to the matchday squad over the coming weeks, which we will need as we have a packed fixture list in January.
Merry Christmas to everyone and hope to see you all at Sholing.
Up Next:
Our last game of 2025, is or visit to Sholing in the league on Saturday 27th with the usual 3pm KO
Match Report by Martin French..
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