Basingstoke & District League Match Reports from Saturday 9th March, By Peter Raynbird.

Basingstoke B Cup Semi Final.

It is North Warnborough who will contest the final of the Basingstoke B Cup at Barlow’s Park, Tadley on Saturday 4th May Kick off 6.30 p.m. after they got through on Saturday by beating Oakridge in this Semi-final. It was a tight game throughout and went to extra time and penalties before deciding the winners. It was Oakridge who led after just four minutes when a shot from Max Trodd was fumbled into the net by keeper Reece Emery. Banica –Marian Oprea came on as sub after twenty minutes and soon equalized after a Nathan Archer throw in was not dealt with. Oakridge came back strongly, and Sam Trodd struck twice to see his side leading 3-1 Oprea scored again from a Bentaleb assist then a ball from John Scott-Elliott over the top led to Liam Self forcing the ball home to take it to extra time. Scott Elliott put Borough ahead in the extra period, but a shot by Sam Mosdell went in off Liam Cook meant penalties. . Two good saves by keeper Sam Bully and the final penalty taken by Liam Coppi saw Borough through. They will meet the winners of the Renegades v Twentyten Reserves in the Final.

Basingstoke Saturday League

Division One.

Hook took the lead after eight minutes when Ismael Alvarez netted after a cross from Jack McKee In the 13th a good run by Tedroy Ricketts and pass for Dave King to make it 2-0 and they went three up in the 37th when a clever back heel from King fooled the Tadley defenders. Charlie Neville pulled a goal back soon after the break from a free kick, but in the 80th. a long ball from Michael Abbott found substitute Dan Mauradian and he played through for King to make it 4-1. Bradley Nash, the Tadley manager then brought himself and Craig Farrington on and in the 86th Fred Ball did well to chest down a cross and beat keeper Greg Archer to give them hope and when young Ewan Young on his debut, scored from a Farrington cross in added time, it gave Hook a fright, but they did hang onto the three points.

It is current Champions Twentyten who continues to head the table by four points above Hook after beating bottom of the table Overton United A 10-0. Top scorer, now on 24 for the season Ryan Lupton, was soon on target scoring twice in the opening 20 minutes and it became 4-0 with goals from Dan Hancock and Joe Hill. By the break Overton went five down when Lupton completed his hat trick. Overton did contribute with Craig Smith forcing a good save and Siyani Thomas hitting a good chance over the bar, but in the main they were overwhelmed. and Lupton added his fourth by the 50th and further goals from Jake Tanner(2), Joe Hill and Hancock completed the rout.

Silchester Village went into this away game against AFC Berg unbeaten in the league and came home well beaten 5-2. They were certainly not at full strength but managed to take the lead through Jason Graham and even though Berg scored twice to lead, Silchester came again right on half time from a Peter White penalty. Berg looked too strong in the second half and netted three times. Their overall scorers were
Reece Chapman, Peter Lomax and Louis Vickery (3).

Division Two

Renegades remain top of the Division Two table by one point after seeing off AFC Berg Reserves with a 7-0 home win George Lagden was again the star turn, his hat trick taking him to twenty for the season. Lagden combined with Matt Baker for Ash Burchett to give them the lead after Berg had held out for 25 minutes. Lagden then netted his first following a Jay Green free kick parried by the keeper. The Berg defence held out until the 71st minute when Lagden was fouled in the box and Ricky Smith netted the penalty. Baker then made it 4-0 from a Smith cross and two goals within two minutes, both from Lagden completed his hat trick. The final goal was netted by Luke Simpson from another Chris Reece assist.

Overton United B against AFC Aldermaston A looked like a highly scoring affair in the favour of second placed United’s fourth team, but this scrappy affair ended with a slender 1-0 win for them. Aldermaston did have chances through Vinny Kennedy and Harrison Edwards was clean through and shot straight at the keeper. Strong claims for a penalty only resulted in a free kick outside the box and Tony Johnson hit the post. They paid for these missed opportunity when in the 40th minute Ian Randall managed to score what proved to be the winner, a scrambled effort that found the back of the net.

Basingstoke Athletic came up with a 5-1 win against Chineham following two six goal defeats in their previous two games. It was however Chineham who took the lead after 15 minutes through Tobi Judd following a through ball from Paddy Callahan. Luke Russell equalized with a 30-yard shot in the 20th and they took the lead just before half time through a header from Steve McDonald. It was still very close until the last fifteen minutes then McDonald scored his second and further goals from Ryan Watts and Ashley Russell .made it a more substantial victory.