Chesham United 2-0 Basingstoke

Report by Jacob Wilkinson,

Basingstoke Town fell to a second-straight away league defeat on Saturday, as they lost 2-0 to Chesham United at The Meadow.

When the ‘Stoke lineup was announced for the game in Buckinghamshire, most fans were delighted to see a small selection of the seemingly-endless pool of unavailable players back in the mix. A strong bench included club captain Simon Dunn, defensive pair Billy Upton and Scott Armsworth, Southampton loanee Josh Squires and attacking midfield player James Clark.

The opening exchanges were somewhat scrappy, but the first big chance of the match fell to Chesham. A misplaced pass at the back saw the ball roll through to Jordan Edwards, who showed composure to take it around Paul Strudley. However, the No.9’s touch took him too wide and allowed the Basingstoke defenders to recover and cut out the cross into the box.

The visitors showed slight glimpses of what they were about in the remainder of the first half, but a lack of end product from both sides meant the game was goalless going into the break.

The start of the second period saw more of the same, but the Generals remained threatening – narrowly missing the target on multiple occasions. Winger Bruno Andrade came the closest, as he steered his shot wide from a dummied cross into the middle.

Paul Hodges had Basingstoke’s brightest opportunity, as he made a drive to the edge of the Chesham box after some intricate midfield play. He opened up on his right foot for the shot, and the strike was a good one – dipping fiercely as it sailed over the bar.

The deadlock was broken just after the 70 minute mark, through a piece of individual brilliance from Zak Joseph. A testing long throw-in was eventually half-cleared by the Basingstoke defence after a physical melee in and around the 6-yard area. However, the ball was quickly latched onto by Joseph – who took a touch to stop its flight and looped a dipping right-footed volley past Strudley to give Chesham the lead.

Just ten minutes later, the hosts were given a golden opportunity to double their lead – when the referee pointed to the penalty spot. A free-kick was launched into the Basingstoke box from deep and nodded out by Scott Armsworth. However, a fierce volley was struck straight back on goal – deflecting off Alfie Grant’s arm from close-range. League top scorer Ricardo German, who had come off the bench as a substitute, stepped up and converted calmly to take his tally for the season up to 18.

‘Stoke applied some late pressure, with Brad Wilson finding himself in a couple of dangerous positions, but it was too late to come up with any sort of comeback and Dan Brownlie’s side went without scoring in an away league away game for the first time in over a month.

The result leaves Basingstoke 12th in the Southern League Premier South, as they hope to welcome even more players back from injury before they prepare to play three home games in the space of seven days – against Sholing, Hungerford and Beaconsfield – starting on Saturday 2^nd December.