Basingstoke & District League Match Reports from Saturday 12th January , By Peter Raynbird.

Hampshire Junior A Cup Fourth Round

There was no joy for Tadley Calleva A, the Basingstoke Leagues last representatives in the Hampshire Junior A Cup, as they were beaten 3-0 by visitors from Southampton AFC Hiltingbury. Dave Neville had a good-looking shout for a goal, but the referee ruled it had not crossed the line and it was the visitors who took the lead when Tadley were caught out with two against two at the back and keeper Gary Harper was beaten. Tadley were still well in the game until while pushing up they conceded two more goals in added time.

Hampshire Junior B Cup Semi Final.

It was better news in the Hampshire Junior B Cup for the Basingstoke League when Twentyten Reserves won through to the Final of the Hampshire Junior B Cup after beating Bishops Waltham Dynamos Reserves away 2-0. Twentyten Reserves has flourished under Manager Jack Barrett this season as both of their teams are enjoying success and took the lead after 20 minutes when a lay off by Jack Hulbert led to Franklin Spacagna finding the far corner of the net. Play was pretty scrappy at times with little created from either side, although Twentyten had most of the ball and then in the 70th minutes it became 2-0. Luke Higgins was their scorer after being set up by Josh Bromley.

Peter Raynbird Cup Semi Final

It is more success for Twentyten first team as they won through to the Final of the Peter Raynbird Cup after beating AFC Berg 4-3 in a thrilling Semi Final. The Final this season is being played at the Camrose Ground on Saturday 30th March at 6.30 p.m. They now await the winners of the other Semi Final being played this Saturday when Overton United B face AFC Aldermaston Reserves. It was AFC Berg who went into a two-goal lead with two goals from Ashley Elward. He was gifted the first after 17 minutes when keeper Darren Gary raced out of his area and Elward placed the ball into the empty net. The second was no gift as Elward did well to bring the ball down and volley past the keeper, his 18th goal of the season. In the 40th Twenty reduced the arrears when Dan Hancock was on the end of a long ball from Charlie Manning and beat keeper Torren Kirrage and just before half time, they drew level when Ryan Lupton broke clear and took on the keeper with success. Back came Berg to regain the lead through Louis Vickery, but in the 75th a header from Lupton from a Karl Hanks free kick put them level at 3-3 and the dramatic winner came when Lupton outmuscle his marker, found Joe Hill and his lob was too good for the keeper.

Basingstoke Saturday League

Division One

Hook came back from the 1-0 defeat against AFC Berg the previous week, to swamp Herriard Sports 7-0 and return to the top of the Division One table. They were 4-0 up at the break and when Herriard went down to ten men with injuries for the second half they feared the worst, however they did well under the circumstances to concede just three more. For Hook, a hat trick for Dan Alliston, singles for Tom Lucas, Ally Brown and Jack McKee, with a penalty taken by Dan Mellors.

A well-attended clash on The Green, between Silchester Village and AFC Aldermaston Reserves resulted in a 3-2 win for the home side, the decider coming in the 84th minute from Stephen (Stumpy) Burgess.
It was Kye Theodore with his 17th goal of the season, who gave Silchester their 20th minute lead, but ten minutes later Luke Mitchell equalised. The Villagers were further shaken when Michael Porter put Aldermaston ahead with a header following a corner by Mitchell. A few not so complementary words from Manager Alan Hibbs at the break brought instant results, for within two minutes of the restart they were level. A corner by Burgess and bundled into the net by Lee Champion, sloppy defending felt AFC Manager Matt Desay. Although Champion had a good effort cleared off the line, Aldermaston gave the home side problems and looked like picking up a point until the late winner from Burgess.

Division Two
Renegades have a four points lead in Division Two after a very narrow 2-1 win against a North Warnborough side who felt they deserved a better outcome. Renegades took a 25th minute lead with a header by the unmarked Matty Baker from a Danny Costen cross. It was an error by keeper Luke Simpson, who could only parry a shot from Luke Scannelli into the net that put Borough on level terms and they always looked dangerous on the counter. Renegades centre back Dean Scott had an outstanding game as they pressed when Benica Oprea and John Scott-Elliott both forced good saves from Simpson, who atoned for his early error. Borough looked like taking an unexpected point until four minutes from time when Ashley Burchett found Chris Reece and his fine cross fell to Gus Reis who netted the winner.

Chineham and Basingstoke Athletic fought out a 2-2 draw, a result Chineham will take after they had Dan Hill sent off after 27 minutes for deliberate hand ball saving an on target shot from Paul Taylor and Kieran Challis converting the spot kick. In the 35th minute a shot from Ronnie Tamale was parried and Ryan Watts followed up to give Athletic a 2-0 lead. A hand ball in the box did not produce a send-off, but from the resulting penalty taken by Paddy Callahan it was 2-1 at the break. Chineham had most of the play after this, but could only come back with the one goal, again from their Man of the Match player, Callaghan who led the line well and took the second penalty, given for a mistimed tackle by Tom Hamilton.

Oakridge dropped two points in their promotion quest after only drawing 2-2 with bottom of the table AFC Aldermaston A. The Aldermaston third string has not taken any points since their opening game of the season but went in front from a penalty taken by Tommy James in the tenth minute. Connor Parker with a mis-hit shot levelled when it hit the post and went in. A bad tackle led to a penalty for Aldermaston and Vinny Kennedy converted. Oakridge went down to ten men when Aaron Johns was sent off, but they still had the lion’s share of the game and equalised through Tom Perry and were unfortunate not to win when a shot from Nathan Bedford hit the post.