Match Report by Karl Hills
Photography by Steve Gridley
After getting back to winning ways on Saturday afternoon, ‘Stoke made the short trip South on Tuesday night to face local rivals – and former landlords – Winchester City, with the visitors looking to record back-to-back wins in the League for the first time since the start of the season.
A frantic and action-packed game that saw six goals and a red card apiece, ended up with all three points heading back up the M3 to Basingstoke. Goals from Brody Peart, James Clark, Liam Ferdinand and Luis Le Paih were enough to secure all three points for the visitors, with IK Hill responding twice for Winchester City.
The game got off to a frantic start, with ‘Stoke looking to carry momentum from Saturday’s victory into this game and they were rewarded with an early goal.
Robbie Gallagher was bundled over by Winchester’s McCormick on the left and Brody Peart stepped up to whip it in right-footed. The free-kick evaded everyone as it nestled in the far corner, sparking wild celebrations on the pitch and amongst the travelling faithful who arrived in Winchester in numbers, helping Winchester to their largest league attendance of the season to date (0-1).
‘Stoke were fired up and very nearly increased their early lead just two minutes later when George Reid played in Gallagher – his cross was overhit but kept from going out of play on the right touchline by Peart. Peart turned and put the ball back into the box for it to be met by the head of Liam Ferdinand whose glancing header came back off the far post and was cleared away by the Winchester defence.
As the game wore on City started to get back into the game, seeing more of the ball despite the press from ‘Stoke. However, in the 19th minute, the game tilted in their favour. Reid, who had been previously booked for delaying the restart, was shown a second yellow card for a late tackle on McCormick. ‘Stoke now faced the remaining 70 minutes of the game with 10 men.
Both sides probed to find a way through the others defence, but neither could until Peart cut in from the right, went past two defenders and got his shot away – only to see Cairney tip the ball superbly over the bar for a corner. However, from the resulting corner, ‘Stoke scored their second of the night.
The corner was put in by Peart and met by Clark, who had made the run from the back post to the front, and he headed it into the far corner of the net (0-2).
But just three minutes later, the hosts had a penalty and a chance to get back into the game. Rudy Allen, sliding to block a cross, was adjudged to have handled the ball and, in the 38th minute, Hill sent Simon Grant in the ‘Stoke goal the wrong way to cut the deficit in half. (1-2)
Spurred on by getting a goal back, it was no surprise that the hosts were in the ascendancy with McCormick shooting wide twice, and Jones hitting a shot towards goal from the edge of the area, which took a couple of deflections and Grant then managed to save low.
‘Stoke then went the closest to adding to the scoreline when Gallagher’s low shot was saved by Flitney and then in the final minute of added time, ‘Stoke made it 3-1. Rudy Allen intercepted a pass and streamed forward, always keeping an eye on the run of Ferdinand, before lifting the ball neatly over two defenders into his path. Ferdinand took the ball to the left of the oncoming Cairney and looked like he got the ball caught under his feet but quickly corrected it and stroked the ball home. That was the last action of the half as the referee blew for half-time 30 seconds later.
HT Winchester City 1 – 3 Basingstoke Town
The hosts came flying out of the blocks at the start of the second half and, after Hill went close from the edge of the area just after the restart, they got the goal they were looking for. The ball came into the ‘Stoke penalty area from the right and Mlambo’s effort was blocked, but Hill was there to tap into the net. (2-3)
Despite being on the backfoot for most of the half so far, the visitors still showed their attacking intent and went close to increasing their lead in the 61st minute, but Cairney superbly tipped a low effort from Peart around the post.
Then two moments in two minutes had a big impact on the game. The first came for the hosts when Hill, already with a brace to his name, drove into the area and unleashed a shot that could only find the post and then cleared away to safety.
The second saw the hosts reduced to ten men, as Ferdinand received the ball from D’Andre Brown, who continued his run, and Ferdinand played the ball through to him, with Brown now in on goal. However, Brown was brought down by Tommy Wright, who was given a straight red card from the referee after consulting with his linesman. The resulting free-kick went wide.
With both sides down to ten men, ‘Stoke began to reassert their dominance on the game and Nnamdi Nwachuku had two glorious chances to make it 4-2 with a header well blocked on the line, and then shooting over the bar when through on goal. It wasn’t all the visitors though, and McCormick had a shot from a corner well saved low by Grant.
Luis Le Paih was introduced in the 92nd minute of the game, replacing Ferdinand, and it was Le Paih who had the final say on the game. In the 98th minute of the game, Ben Cook played Le Paih through and he made no mistake slotting past Cairney to seal the game for ‘Stoke.
A great win for ‘Stoke, and back-to-back wins heading into the busy Christmas period and are now up to 6th in the table, ahead of this weekend’s fixtures. The next game for ‘Stoke is at Winklebury Football Complex vs Marlow on Boxing Day (26th December) 3pm KO.
FT Winchester City 2-4 Basingstoke Town