Monday Morning Quarterback – Week 17 Upon Further Review

Monday Morning Quarterback –  Week 16 Upon Further Review

Well 24hrs on from a fairly awful performance at Dorchester, where a number of fans stated a lack of effort, let alone skill on yet another 3G surface, we can now finally return to grass pitches for the rest of the season.

Up next is the Met Police’s visit to the Camrose and although not a must win situation just yet, we need to take the game to them and work for 90 minutes and take our chances.

I have stated in a number of match previews that Martin Kuhl has to decide what players are available every week and go with that, however Saturday, we couldn’t even fill the bench, that again simply amazed fans at the game.

I understand that both Shane Hollamby & Sam Deadfield were out, but unless I am mistaken the two QPR loanees don’t look like they are coming back, the same with loanee Matt Casey. Kian Duncan does not like he will be donning a Blue and Yellow shirt anytime soon and is James Granger even still at the club? Where the rest of those who have played bit parts this season I don’t know either.

Even more concerning to Basingstoke fans is the lack of strikeforce that has been brought in to try and salvage our place in the Premier Division. Yes we had Mitchell Parker, but clearly he wanted out, then there was Manny who was here then gone. Then Downes thankfully came and went. But that is simply it. We have never replaced the injured Callum Bunting and In this league it has been proven all-season long, that goals are needed to win matches and relying on just two strikers, with one of them injured for parts of the season, simply does not cut it anymore!

Matches Around Our League

Well most of those teams at the top of the table, did very little to help themselves yesterday as League Leaders Weymouth were held to a goal-less draw on the road at Wimborne Town. The opportunity to compare the league’s leading goalscorers, Toby Holmes and Brandon Goodship, attracted a large crowd of 697, but neither team got to grips with the very strong swirling wind and failed to put either goal under threat. The point did keep Weymouth on top and actually increased their lead to two points, as second-placed Taunton Town continued their poor run of form with a miserable 2-0 loss on the road at lowly Frome Town. Taunton never recovered from two early goals, the first inside the first minute of the game scored by Troy Simpson. The second just seven minutes later by Tom Mehew was enough to secure victory despite the home side playing with 10 men for the last hour of the game. Taunton have accumulated just two points, two draws in their last four games.

The Met Police moved back into third place after a 1-0 home win against Kings Langley. The only goal was a deflected goal on 39 mins by Luke Richardson. The win pushed them level on points with Taunton, but with a worse goal difference.

In fourth is now Salisbury, who lost on the road at Tiverton. Both goals were scored in the second-half (50 & 75mins), by old fashioned forward Levi Landricombe.

In the final playoff spot is now held by Poole Town who replaced Kings Langley with a 3-1 home win against Merthyr Town. The Welsh side took an early 7^th minute lead, scored by Kieran Lewis, but Poole bounced back with two goals, the first a touch in at the far post by Jez Bedford on 21 mins. Then just 4 minutes later a free-kick by Jake Smeeton that was helped  by the strong wind beat the Merthyr keeper. The game stayed close until the Dolphins secured all 3 points on 87 mins when James Constable slammed home Poole’s 3^rd goal.

Harrow slipped further away from the promotion race after losing 3- 0 at Hartley Wintney.

Ok, the top of the table looks like this;

Bottom of the table Staines Town game-plan to secure back-to-back wins and also do Basingstoke Town a favour by beating Hendon, went seriously wrong early as Hendon’s Connor Calcutt opened the scoring in the 9th minute with a header, the lead was then doubled by a Luke Tingey strike on 25 minutes. Shaquille Hippolyte-Patrick made it 3-0 from the penalty spot before Calcutt tapped in to give the Greens a 4-0 half-time advantage. Matty Harriott added a fifth ten minutes into the second half, before Staines scored goals on 66 mins (Andrew Juett) and 84 mins (Lewis Lavender), to bring the final score  to 2-5 and Hendon moved upto 16^th in the table.

Having already covered Frome Town’s victory, the final relegation spot is still held by Gosport Borough who were held 0-0 by fellow relegation battlers Walton Casuals. In yet another game ruined by the weather, neither team could master the strong south-coast wind and played out what was classed as a drab affair. Gosport now sit one point behind 19^th placed Beaconsfield Town and our very own Basingstoke Town. Walton’s point pushed them above us and into 17^th place.

Beaconsfield Town again slipped closer to the bottom after suffering a 4-0 thrashing at Swindon Supermarine. The Marine smarting from last week’s loss to Stoke, were on it quickly and a brace by Ryan Campbell on 13 & 18 mins gave the home side a deserved 2-0 halftime lead. Then they secured the 3 points on 48 mins as their super striker Conor McDonagh added to the lead and then forward Stuart Fleetwood added the fourth goal on 82 mins. The Rams now sit in 19^th place.

The last game that was played and didn’t really cover a promotion or relegation team was the Chesham Utd’s home loss to Farnborough 0-1.

Going forward I have now increased the relegation table to show the bottom five clubs, however if it continues to keep this close, I may need to add the bottom seven or eight;

Basingstoke Town leading Goal Scorer Chart

With the own goal scored by Dorchester, our goals scored stands at 64.

Sam Argent 12

Dean Stow 9

Sam Deadfield 7

Sam Smart 6

Harry Pearse 5

Zidane Akers 4

Jack McKnight 4 (Eastleigh Town)

Ben Wright 4

Own Goals 3

Manny Williams 2 (Slough Town)

Dan Collier 2

Oliver Harris 2

Callum Bunting 2 (Departed)

Dan Bayliss 1

Shane Hollamby 1

Games This Week

Just one game in the league this week, but it’s quite an important one as 19^th placed Beaconsfield Town host Merthyr Town on Tuesday night.

Your MMQ – Martin French