Southern League Premier South – Saturday 8th August 2026
Basingstoke Town 2 vs 4 Evesham United Attendance 625
Where: Winklebury Centre, Winklebury Way, Basingstoke. RG23 8BF
Manager Dan Brownlie’s line-up for the opening game of 2026-27 was: 1. Simon Grant, 2. D’Andre Brown, 3. Joe O’Loughlin, 4. Ben Parkinson, 5. Bernie Tanner, 6. Billy Upton (Capt), 7. Jeremiah Okine-Peters, 8. Louis McGrory, 9. Finn Evans, 10. Tom Blake, 11. James Henry
On the bench: 12. Aleks Kokoszka, 14. Casey Bocarro, 15. Joe Lewis-Evans,16. Jedidiah Brown
Referee – Thomas Baines
With a couple of late additions to the opening day squad, the season got underway, with Stoke on the front-foot, and in the fifth minute should have taken the lead, as a neat through ball to Finn Evans, allowed him to break into the penalty area, and his left foot shot rebounded off the keeper and then seconds later fell to Tom Blake directly in front of goal, but his right-foot shot flew over the bar.
Minutes later Stoke had a second chance but Evans shot was saved by a blocking defender inside the six-yard area.
Evesham were struggling to put anything of note on our goal, as they pushed the ball over the top of our back four a couple of times, but failed to gain any advantage as our defence dealt with them each time.
Stoke’s next chance as we approached the twenty-minute mark, as the ball found Jeremiah Okine-Peters on the left, who outpaced his defenders then chipped the ball over the outcoming Evesham keeper, only for it to bounce a few feet wide off of the right-hand goal a couple of seconds later.
Evesham slowly started coming into the game, but was still struggling to trouble Simon Grant in goal, as we hit the half-hour mark.
Stoke’s next chance came two minutes later, as further good work on the left, this time allowed Joe O’Loughlin to send a low pass across, where James Henry was just inches away from getting that all—important touch, and the ball rolled away to safety.
All these chances then came back to bite us, as Evesham broke down the left, and a cross, fell to a Evesham forward, who slid it to their No.9, whose powerful shot saw Grant get a hand to it, but the ball still flew into the net. Basingstoke 0-1 Evesham
Stoke looked to get back on level terms, but it was Evesham who doubled lead just before the break, as they attacked and with a fortunate rebound as Stoke failed to clear, and the ball fell to an Evesham forward who slotted the ball into the net. Basingstoke 0-2 Evesham
The referee allowed three minutes of added-time, and Stoke went into the break behind, and with lots to do in the second-half.
Halftime Score: Basingstoke Town 0 vs 2 Evesham United
With no changes by Stoke at the break, the second-half got underway, and again Stoke looked to get back into the game, but Evesham’s defence was looking strong keeping us away from their penalty area.
Stoke made its first change of the game, with Ben Parkinson replaced by Jedidiah Brown (52 mins).
Still little to note and Stoke made another change, with Finn Evans replaced by Miles Obodo (57 mins).
Evesham were needing to do very little as we continued to struggle to test their keeper, and it was Evesham who increased their lead, as a cross seemed to get knocked by a Stoke defender into the path of Evesham’s Kai Churchley who buried the ball into the back of the net. Basingstoke 0-3 Evesham
Stoke pushed forward again, but as Okine-Peters looked to shoot, a strong sliding tackle pushed the ball out for a corner.
Evesham made it four a minute later from our corner, as Churchley got his hat-trick.
Stoke made its third change as Joe O’Loughlin was replaced by Casey Bocarro (79 mins).
Minutes later Stoke made its fourth change and fifth changes as Jeremiah Okine-Peters was replaced by Joe Luke Lewis (82 mins), then James Henry was replaced by Aleks Kokoszka (83 mins).
Still little sign of us getting back into the game, as we entered five added-minutes.
Then a goal for Stoke out of the blue, as a long clearance saw the Evesham keeper come out of area and head the ball straight to Lewis-Evans, who clipped a forty-yard shot into an open net.
GOAL! Basingstoke Town 1 – 4 Evesham United (Lewis-Evans 93 mins)
Stoke pushed forward again and forced their way into the penalty area, and with the ball falling to Kokoszka, who smashed hi shot into the roof of the Evesham net. GOAL! Basingstoke Town 2 – 4 Evesham United (Kokoszka 95 mins)
A minute later the referee blew and two late goals count for nothing as we go down to defeat on the opening game of the season.
Fulltime Score: Basingstoke Town 2 vs 4 Evesham United
Lewis-Evans 93 mins, Kokoszka 95 mins, Churchley 34, 72, 78 mins, Liggett 42 mins
Match Thought’s
The halftime consensus was how we should have been two-up in an opening good spell, before Evesham struck, and from that point on, we looked unable to break down a strong dogged Evesham defence.
Two late goals as Joe Lewis-Evans and Aleks Kokoszka open their accounts for the season, but we head to Hanwell with some work to do.
Up Next:
Our first away game of the season takes us to Hanwell Town this Tuesday evening (11th), with 7.45pm KO
Match Report by Martin French..
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