Southern League Premier South – Saturday 22nd August 2026
Basingstoke Town 1 vs 1 Bath City Attendance 725
Where: Winklebury Centre, Winklebury Way, Basingstoke. RG23 8BF
Manager Dan Brownlie’s line-up for our home game against Bath City was: 1. Simon Grant, 2. Casey Bocarro, 3. Joe O’Loughlin, 4. Alex Solomon, 5. Sulayman Ceesay, 6. Billy Upton (Capt), 7. Jeremiah Okine-Peters, 8. Louis McGrory, 9. Mile Obodo, 10. Tom Blake, 11. Christos Papkonstantinou,
On the bench: 12. Bernie Tanner, 14. D’Andre Brown, 15. Jonathan Gjoshe, 16. Finn Evans, 17. James Henry
Referee – Benjamin Maskery
With the warm sun beaming down and a fair contingent of visiting Bath City fans, the game got underway with Stoke attacking the car-park end in the first-half, and it was quiet opening, as both teams team’s tested each other out.
Tom Blake who had already looked lively in an earlier run on the left, neatly found Miles Obodo, who slid the ball to Jeremiah Okine Peters who found space inside Bath’s penalty area to shoot, but this was blocked away by a Bath City defender ten yards out.
Stoke who had looked strong upto now, then lost the ball in our own half, and Bath broke quickly and their forward Reuben Reid found space to shoot, but his shot lacked real pace and was comfortably saved down low by Simon Grant in goal.
A minute later Billy Upton, made an important block six yards out, as Bath worked their way into our penalty area.
Blake is the architect of Stoke’s next attack as he found Christos, whose shot although hit well, flew comfortably over the bar.
Stoke continued to push forward and Joe O’Loughlin neatly found Okine-Peters who slid a low cross along the six-yard line, but that vital touch from a Stoke forward was missing.
Despite all this good play, it was Bath who opened the scoring, as a mistake passing out the ball at the back, allowed the visitors to break forward and two passes later, a shot just inside our penalty area found the bottom corner of the net. Basingstoke 0-1 Bath City
The goal appeared to set Stoke’s play back, but four minutes later, good work in the middle of the pitch saw McGrory slip the ball through to Tom Blake, who slid the ball past the oncoming Bath keeper into the net. GOAL! Basingstoke Town 1 – 1 Bath City (Blake 28 mins)
With the score back even, it was Bath who had a couple of minutes of play around our penalty area, but failed to create any attempt on our goal, as we moved into the final ten minutes of the half.
Bath continued to be the team looking for a second goal, and it almost came as we failed to clear the ball in our penalty area, and the ball fell to a Bath forward, but his shot was well smothered by Grant’s neat dive at the forwards feet.
Stoke had the final couple of minutes of play in Bath’s half, but the visitors held us at bay, and we went into the break level, with some strong play.
Halftime Score: Basingstoke Town 1 vs 1 Bath City
With no changes at halftime, the game got back underway and it was a quiet opening few minutes, but Stoke then started to push forward, and a decent run by O’Loughlin found Obodo down the left whose dangerous low cross, was met by a Bath defender, who cleared the ball out for a corner.
Stoke continued to press forward but failed to trouble the Bath keeper, as we hit the hour-mark, and we made our first change, as Jeremiah Okine-Peters was replaced by Finn Evans (60 mins).
Bath had done little in the half, and they made a double change, as Stoke continued to have the majority of the possession, and it was Upton who made two timely defensive headers in the space of a minute.
It was then Upton in an attacking role, as he met a corner from the right, but his header lacked any power, and bounced comfortably into Bath’s keepers hands.
Bath had done very little in this half, and it was Stoke who could and should have taken the lead, as Blake drove deep into Bath’s half, then neatly found Christos, whose shot was saved by the outstretched leg of the keeper.
That was to be Christos’s last action of the game, as he was replaced by D’Andre Brown (78 mins).
Bath had a couple of minutes of play in our half, but did little to trouble Grant in goal, as we moved into the final few minutes of the game.
D’Andre then went on a run deep into their half, beating two players, only to be felled by a third, however the resulting free-kick was poor flying over anyone waiting in the box.
It was D’Andre once more looking to create a chance, as he picked out Obodo, who could not match last week’s finishes, as his shot flew over the bar.
That was to be the last action of the game, as the referee blew the final whistle a minute later, and both teams will have to settle for a point.
Fulltime Score: Basingstoke Town 1 vs 1 Bath City
Blake 28 mins, Parsons 24 mins,
Match Thought’s
Basingstoke more than matched Bath across the park, and despite a more even first-half, I thought Stoke were far the better side in the second-half. Tom Blake, apart from being our goalscorer was influential throughout the game and continues to be one of our Manager’s best finds. Defensively again we looked strong, Bocarro, Solomon, Ceesay & O’Loughlin were well led by Billy Upton who confirmed why he’s such an important part of our team.
The point keeps us in fourteenth, as we head into the August Bank Holiday and two more big games, with more confidence that we can match any team in this league.
Up Next:
We start the Bank Holiday weekend with a trip into Somerset to take on Taunton Town, next Saturday 29th
Match Report by Martin French..
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