Southern League Premier South \u2013 Saturday 22nd August 2026
\nBasingstoke Town 1 vs 1 Bath City Attendance 725
\nWhere: Winklebury Centre, Winklebury Way, Basingstoke. RG23 8BF
\n<\/b>Manager Dan Brownlie\u2019s line-up for our home game against Bath City was: 1. Simon Grant, 2. Casey Bocarro, 3. Joe O\u2019Loughlin, 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,
\nOn the bench: 12. Bernie Tanner, 14. D\u2019Andre Brown, 15. Jonathan Gjoshe, 16. Finn Evans, 17. James Henry
\nReferee \u2013 Benjamin Maskery<\/p>\n
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\u2019s tested each other out.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s penalty area to shoot, but this was blocked away by a Bath City defender ten yards out.<\/p>\n
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.
\nA minute later Billy Upton, made an important block six yards out, as Bath worked their way into our penalty area.<\/p>\n
Blake is the architect of Stoke\u2019s next attack as he found Christos, whose shot although hit well, flew comfortably over the bar.
\nStoke continued to push forward and Joe O\u2019Loughlin neatly found Okine-Peters who slid a low cross along the six-yard line, but that vital touch from a Stoke forward was missing.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
The goal appeared to set Stoke\u2019s 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.\u00a0GOAL! Basingstoke Town 1<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 1 Bath City\u00a0(Blake 28 mins)
\n<\/b>
\nWith 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s neat dive at the forwards feet.<\/p>\n
Stoke had the final couple of minutes of play in Bath\u2019s half, but the visitors held us at bay, and we went into the break level, with some strong play.<\/p>\n
Halftime Score: Basingstoke Town 1 vs 1 Bath City
\n<\/b>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\u2019Loughlin found Obodo down the left whose dangerous low cross, was met by a Bath defender, who cleared the ball out for a corner.<\/p>\n
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).<\/p>\n
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.
\nIt 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\u2019s keepers hands.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s half, then neatly found Christos, whose shot was saved by the outstretched leg of the keeper.
\nThat was to be Christos\u2019s last action of the game, as he was replaced by D\u2019Andre Brown (78 mins).<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
D\u2019Andre 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.
\nIt was D\u2019Andre once more looking to create a chance, as he picked out Obodo, who could not match last week\u2019s finishes, as his shot flew over the bar.
\nThat 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.<\/p>\n
Fulltime Score: Basingstoke Town 1 vs 1 Bath City
\n<\/b>Blake 28 mins,\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Parsons 24 mins,<\/p>\n
Match Thought\u2019s
\n<\/b>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\u2019s best finds. Defensively again we looked strong, Bocarro, Solomon, Ceesay & O\u2019Loughlin were well led by Billy Upton who confirmed why he\u2019s such an important part of our team.
\nThe 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.
\nUp Next:
\n<\/b>We start the Bank Holiday weekend with a trip into Somerset to take on Taunton Town, next Saturday 29th<\/p>\n
Match Report by Martin French..<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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