Basingstoke & District League Match Reports from Sunday 14th October, By Tony Spencer.

In the first round of the Basingstoke Kelvin Cup, played on Sunday in torrential rain and high winds, Chineham made an immediate impression. They soundly beat Broughton Sports of the Andover League 5-1, with braces from Kieran Allyne and Sam Ashton, and single by Daryl Goater.

Soldiers Return travelled to The Crown (Ludgershall) and had a battle on their hands. At first the visitors dominated the game but squandered their chances, leading at the interval by just one goal, from Graham Pooles. Those misses came home to roost after the break, with The Crown taking a 2-1 lead, before Craig Williamson fired from 30 yards over the keeper to level 2-2. Soldiers looked sunk on 90 minutes, going 3-2 down, but a deflected shot from Ellis Hauman gave both sides extra time to try to settle the tie. There was no further score, but the visitors hit the post during the additional half hour, reminding them of hitting the crossbar twice in the game. Soldiers Return scored four consecutive penalties while the hosts missed a couple, so Soldiers won 2-4 on penalties.

Hampshire Irons were beaten 2-4 at home in the Hampshire Sunday Intermediate Cup round 1 by Monks.

In the only Division 1 match, a good game, which was well refereed, defined the top two places in the league. Bramley United stormed into a 3-0 first-half lead with strikes from Stuart Leddy, Les Wood and Ben Squibb. Republic of Chineham were unable to respond and conceded two more, Bramley winning 5-0 with a Leddy penalty and Adam Bartlett goal.

New leaders in Division 2, New Park Rangers, beat Basingstoke Saints 5-3. The hosts started well and missed three good chances in the first 20 minutes before getting the only goal of the half, when Harry Knapp set Joe Hodge up to score on the half-hour mark. Both sides were evenly matched and early in the second half Danny Manners equalised for Saints with an excellent finish in the 6-yard box. Simon Harrison picked out Hodge to record his second and restore the hosts' lead 2-1. Saints were reduced to ten men, which affected the balance of play, with Hodge immediately competing his hat-trick. Saints battled on valiantly and reduced the deficit 3-2 with a Liam Stokes strike. Simon Harrison netted for Rangers 4-2, and still ten-man Saints pulled it back to 4-3 with Ellis Wyles scoring. Saints pushed up to find an equaliser, but in-form Hodge scored his fourth and Rangers won 5-3.

Despite a Matt Kelly goal, AFC Basing lost 1-2 against Chineham Cavaliers.

AFC Laarsens won 1-0 over leaders Camrose Social, with Dan Bloma netting the only goal.

South Ham Saints were beaten 0-6 by Chineham Reserves, with goals from Alex Izzo, Clayton Deakin, and four goals racked up by Joe Marsh.

Kempshott started their visit to Shallow End game brightly but missed a few good chances. It took until just before the break for the visitors to break the deadlock, courtesy of a finessed finish from Nathan Maggs after some lovely work down the right wing by James Hudson. The second goal came after the break, another fine bit of play from Hudson, who timed a perfect through ball to winger Arron Chapman, who took it around the goalkeeper and finished beautifully into the bottom corner with his weaker foot. From then, it turned into a rout, with Kempshott centre back and captain Jordan Clear heading a thunderbolt home from the edge of the box for 0-3. Clear then got his name on the score sheet again, with a poacher's finish from the edge of the box tucked into the bottom corner. Two more perfectly timed finishes came courtesy of Kempshott winger Matt Osborne, who was a problem for Shallow End's defence throughout, took the game to 0-6. Shallow End's consolation goal came from a wayward header from the edge of the box by Kempshott’s centre back Brad Dolan, which he watched helplessly drop into the top corner of his own net. The last goal was a beauty from centre midfielder Cody Burns, who took the ball past two players before unleashing an unstoppable curling effort which flew straight into the top corner of the net, a 1-7 result to Kempshott.