Basingstoke entertained a 600+ crowd yesterday afternoon with a win at Winklebury versus the popular Hashtag United FC. Daryl Wollers opened our scoring to draw us level before half time & youth product Lloyd Snell snatched a winner late on in the second half to secure a well-deserved win.
Founded by Spencer Owen (Spencer FC) in 2016, the much talked-about side Hashtag United play in the Isthmian League North Division (same level as Basingstoke). Boasting a huge digital following with over half a million subscribers on their YouTube channel alone. This, alongside a good club structure, has allowed them to attract some very good players and their continued rise through the leagues has made a lot of noise throughout the non-league circles.
Basingstoke certainly saw the better of the first half, but it was Hashtag United who broke the deadlock against the run of play when a free kick was awarded just outside the Basingstoke penalty area. The talented Hashtag forward Jesse Waller Lassen managed to curl a delicate shot into the side netting past the out-reaching Paul Strudley.
Basingstoke continued to dominate and their efforts were finally rewarded when Daryl Wollers’ neat finish found its way into the bottom corner past ‘Jacko’ (Soccer AM).
With only a handful of changes at Half-Time, Basingstoke continued their good work but didn’t have it all their own way as Hashtag grew into the game a little more and started creating chances of their own.
It was, however, a later change that made the difference when Lloyd Snell replaced George Reid, and the youngster managed to shift his marker and finish into the bottom corner much to the crowds and teammates delight.
We caught up with Dan Brownlie after the game to capture his thoughts on the performance and the weeks work:
“We were disappointed with the performance on Tuesday evening when we visited Didcot and we wanted a reaction from it. The reaction we got today was actually born out of Thursday night – there was a real concentration to our work at training and it showed today. We were a lot sharper, we moved the ball quicker and gave ourselves the opportunity to be a lot more front foot. Not only was it a good occasion in front of a good crowd – but most importantly, we got through some good work. There were some really promising performances out there.”
“We’re still trying out one or two things at the moment. Whilst we will always look to enforce our game on others, it’s important that we have other plans in place to help us find ways to win. Our strength comes in depth, but it also comes in variety – particularly when you look at our forward and midfield options. Horses for courses, and we need to ensure we’ve got the right bodies when the going is good and soft!”
“We’re trying to box a little clever when it comes increasing the boys fitness levels. It was good to get 45 out of Stefan [Brown] and a further 65 of Conor [Lynch] following absence through injury. One of the most pleasing was getting 90 minutes out of Aidan Lewis. There’s still progress to be made there, but he’s working hard and we trust him to get to the levels he knows he can reach.”
When questioned about the winner coming from a youth product Lloyd Snell, DB had this to say…
“Lloyd is a popular member of our group, you could see that in the reaction to him scoring. He’s been with us for nearly ten years and we’re very proud of his development and yesterday was a great moment for him. It will give him that level of confidence to know he can more than compete at this level. The same can be said for D’andre Brown – he’s applying himself a lot more this year and you can see the benefits in his performances and his physicality. They’re both talented boys and they’ll have their chances this year, there’s no question about that.’
Basingstoke get straight back to work on Tuesday night when we host Sholing FC in a 7.45pm Kick Off at Winklebury under the lights.