Southern League Premier South – Saturday 18th January 2025
Poole Town 1 v 0 Basingstoke Town Attendance 771
Where: Black & Gold Stadium, School Lane, Poole. BH15 3JR
Manager Dan Brownlie went a starting line-up of : 1. Simon Grant, 2. Markus Johnson-Schuster, 3. James Clark, 4. Rudy Allen, 5. Jack Ball, 6. Scott Armsworth, 7. Robbie Gallagher, 8. Ben Cook, 9. Nnamdi Nwachuku, 10. Liam Ferdinand, 11. Sam Deadfield,
On the bench: Aleks Kokoszka, Charlie Barlow, Flynn Bolton & Scott Armsworth
Referee – Thomas Farr
Today’s game against Poole Town got underway with Stoke on the front-foot over the first few minutes as they attacked the covered end.
In the seventh minute a punched clearance from a Liam Ferdinand looping header, fell to Rudy Allen, but his shot from fifteen yards was deflected wide of the left-hand post.
Stoke continued to push forward, but it was the homeside who created the next real opening on sixteen minutes but the Poole forward made a complete hash of his shot and the game remained goal-less.
Stoke’s next effort of worth, was a shot by Ferdinand, but again this slid a yard wide of the post.
A game progresses into the last five minutes of the half, and after a series of questionable refereeing decisions, Stoke attacked through Ferdinand whose cross was deflected onto the crossbar and away.
The referee played two minutes of added-time before bringing the game to a halt for halftime.
Halftime Score: Poole Town 0 v 0 Basingstoke Town
The opening minutes of the second-half, saw both teams come forward, but neither keeper was troubled, whilst Robbie Gallagher appeared to get a yellow card for allowing his marker knock him over for about the fourth time in the game.
Stoke then around the hour-mark hit the woodwork twice, as we broke through Nnamdi Nwachuku on the left and his cross was met by Ferdinand’s head that bounced off the post and away, and was hooked clear, straight to Markus Johnson-Schuster who sliced his kick straight to Gallagher, who went past his defender and then let fly a shot that dipped over the keeper onto the bar and away to safety.
Poole Town who had somewhat ridden their luck then created two attacks, as a shot was blocked right yards out and another shot was easily held by Simon Grant in goal.
Nwachuku was starting to see more of the ball on the left, but his final pass was unable to find a Stoke player in Poole’s penalty area.
Stoke then made it’s first change as Ben Cook was replaced by Aleks Kokoszka (71 mins).
Poole were coming more into the game, but a mix of poor crosses and good blocks gave Grant very little to do.
Poole continued to seek that vital goal, but Stoke’s defence was holding firm, and we made our second change as Nnamdi Nwachuku was replaced by Flynn Bolton (87 mins).
Aleks Kokoszka then relieved the pressure on our goal, as he neatly went past one then two defenders, before winning a free-kick.
Stoke in the final minute of normal time, then broke as Ferdinand neatly turned his defender, but then delayed his shot, which allowed his defender to come and win the ball back.
The referee confirmed there would be a minimum of seven-added minutes, as
Poole pushed forward once more, but again Stoke looked solid, until we allowed their substitute to find that extra yard of space and let fly a screamer from all of thirty yards that found the top right-hand corner of the net. Poole 1-0 Basingstoke.
The last few minutes of added-time were played out the final few minutes and the referee blew the final whistle, and Basingstoke headed home without any points.
Full-time Score: Poole Town 1 v 0 Basingstoke Town
Clarke 93 mins
Match Thought’s
The better of the two sides for an hour, but as many fans behind the goal were discussing it would be a likely late goal for either side. Once again it was not to be us.
A good battling performance overall, with probably Sam Deadfield playing in his best game since being here. We now sit in tenth place.
Has Luis Le Paih left the club? New players coming in? Lots to understand this week.
Up Next:
We host Hanwell Town at Winklebury next Saturday (25th) 3pm KO.
Match Report by Martin French..
We looked over for a while but after hitting the post and bar, they looked the better side.
As for the segregation, and the way they treated Basingstoke fans was simply wrong.
Will the complain put in a complaint about it, unlikely.