Southern League Premier South – Saturday 7th February 2026
Havant & Waterlooville 0 vs 0 Basingstoke Town Attendance 828
Where: Westleigh Park, Martin Road, Havant, Hampshire PO9 5TH
Manager Dan Brownlie went with a line-up of: 1. Simon Grant, 2. Lloyd Snell, 3. Joe O’Loughlin, 4. James Dickson, 5. Scott Armsworth, 6. Billy Upton (Capt), 7. Joe Grant, 8. Josh Green, 9. Cheick Sylla, 10. Tom Blake, 11. George Reid
On the bench: 12. James Clark, 14. Joe Barough, 15. Jack Ball, 14. Ben Cook, 17. Robbie Gallagher
Referee – John-Patrick Kane
Both teams went into this game without a win in recent weeks, and it was the homeside who had the early pressure, but failed to trouble Simon Grant in goal.
Fifteen minutes in and Stoke continued to hold off the homesides advances, with Stoke having had the occasional possession in Havant’s half.
Two good blocks by Scott Armsworth and then Billy Upton, led to a series of corners for Havant, but these were well defended by the Stoke defence.
Josh Green then created some space thirty yards, but with the Stoke fans begging for him to shoot, he took one too many touches, and pushed the ball out to Stoke’s new signing Joe Grant on the right.
Further corners were defended by Stoke, and as we moved into the final ten minutes, it was Stoke who started to push forward, and a neat move between Lloyd Snell & Joe Grant, who sent over a cross, that George Reid, was unable to direct his header on target, as it flew wide,
Stoke continued to press, and created two further attackers, a firstly Reid flicked a cross along the byline, across the face of the goal, which required a defender to head the ball clear, from under the crossbar. Then Grant found Cheick Sylla inside the penalty area on the right, and his shot forced the keeper to push it out for a corner on the right.
The referee played two minutes of added-time and we went into the break level and with the momentum at the break.
Halftime Score: Havant & Waterlooville 0 vs 0 Basingstoke Town
With no changes by Stoke during the break, the second-half got underway, and it was Stoke who created the first attack as Joe Grant, crossed the ball from the right, which was half cleared out to Tom Blake, but his shot lacked power, and was easily held by the Havant keeper.
Havant then had an attack resulting from a free-kick, which was headed clear by Upton, but was recycled by Havant, and a cross from the right flew across the goal, and out for a goal-kick.
Stoke then made a double change, as Scott Armsworth was replaced by Jack Ball, and Cheick Sylla was replaced by Robbie Gallagher (70 mins).
Havant then had three attacks in the space of four minutes, as Simon Grant was forced into a good save, pushing the ball out for a corner. A minute later, a dangerous cross was headed clear at the second attempt, and another cross saw Stoke clear it off the line.
Stoke made a further change as Joe Barough replaced Tom Blake (81 mins).
Very little action over the next few minutes, as both defences kept on top, and Stoke made another change as James Clark replaced George Reid (88 mins).
The referee announced six minutes of added-time, and it was Stoke pushing for the winner, and there was a massive call for a penalty, as Robbie Gallagher went down inside the penalty area, but the referee waived it away, and thirty- seconds later, he blew the fulltime whistle.
Fulltime Score: Havant & Waterlooville 0 vs 0 Basingstoke Town
Match Thought’s
A very competitive game, that we were worthy of a point, but lacked goalmouth action, as both keepers were rarely troubled.
We kept their goal-scorer Ryan Seager, under-wraps for most of the game, whilst our new signing Joe Grant, gave a good performance, with the promise of a lot more to come.
Up Next:
We are back at Winklebury next Saturday, as we host promotion chasing Poole Town (14th) with a 3pm KO
Match Report by Martin French..
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