Match Report by Karl Hills
Photography by Steve Gridley
Seven days after doing the double over neighbours Winchester City, Basingstoke Town headed to the BlackGold Stadium to face Poole Town, looking to make it back-to-back wins for the first time in 2025.
Unfortunately, it was not to be. A 30-yard wonder-strike in the 93rd minute from substitute Tyrique Clarke was enough to take all three points for the hosts, as they claimed their first win since November.
‘Stoke started on the front foot and in the seventh minute, created the first opportunity of the game. Ben Cook whipped a ball into Liam Ferdinand, but the ball was headed into the air by a defender and then dropped at the feet of Rudy Allen, whose shot was deflected wide.
But, in the 17th minute, the hosts had a glorious chance to break the deadlock – and somehow didn’t. A headed clearance from Jack Ball was picked off in the middle by the hosts, and Tom Hewlett was set away. He latched onto the through ball and drove towards the goal, before squaring for Rafa Ramos, who, from two yards out, looked certain to put the home side ahead. Instead, he got his shot all wrong and somehow put the ball the wrong side of the post.
With the game somehow still 0-0, ‘Stoke started to dominate more of the ball and in the 28th minute, Ferdinand curled a shot just wide of the left-hand post after cutting back onto his left foot on the edge of the area.
As the game went past the 44th minute, ‘Stoke were unlucky not to find themselves ahead. Ferdinand latched onto a ball over the top from Cook, and instead of shooting chose to square it to Marcus Johnson-Schuster, arriving from the right. However, Christos Batzelis saw the danger and slid in to block the pass – but turned the ball towards his own net. Luckily for the hosts, the ball deflected onto the bar and into the very grateful hands of Poole ‘keeper Ben Taylor.
HT Poole Town 0 – 0 Basingstoke Town
Both sides started off the second half with a higher intensity, looking to be the team to break the deadlock, but there were no real chances of note until around 65th minute, when the hosts went close once more. Antonio Diaz played a ball over the top for Ramos, who controlled the ball well with his chest before hitting his effort just wide of the right-hand post.
From the resulting goal-kick, ‘Stoke would then hit the woodwork twice in a minute. Nnamdi Nwachuku collected the ball from Simon Grant’s clearance and dinked the ball in towards Cook, who saw his header crash off the post and be cleared away. ‘Stoke won the ball back quickly and Johnson-Schuster played the ball to Robbie Gallagher, whose shot dipped over the ‘keeper only for it to hit the underside of the bar and, once more, the hosts cleared the danger.
Both defences were holding firm and both keepers were fairly quiet, with Grant making a couple of routine saves from both Billy Lowes and Ezio Touray, but most efforts were blocked by defenders from both sides. As the game meandered on, it started to feel like an afternoon that would end either goalless, or it would take a wonder strike to break the deadlock. As it turned out, that is exactly what happened.
In the 93rd minute Clarke, on as a second-half substitute in place of Diaz, stepped away from the defender in front of him, found a yard of space and absolutely rifled the ball into the top-right corner of Grant’s goal to take all three points. (1-0).
FT Poole Town 1 – 0 Basingstoke Town
In a game that could have gone either way at various points, ‘Stoke will be disappointed not to have taken at least a point from this fixture. The results from the weekend mean that ‘Stoke are now 10th in the league, and their next fixture is against Hanwell Town on 25th January 2025 at the Winklebury Football Complex, 3pm KO.