Town prepare for cup with a winning performance

BASINGSTOKE warmed up for next Saturday's big day in the FA Cup second round against Aldershot with an impressive all-round display against Bedford Town at the Camrose, writes John Gray.

In fact, the only reason this did not turn into a full-scale massacre was due to the outstanding performance of visiting goalkeeper Ian Brown, whose heroics, despite a long-term knee injury, single-handedly kept the score down.

Club officials and supporters spent most of the morning forking the pitch after torrential downpours overnight left the ground waterlogged.

Their efforts were rewarded as the game went ahead and Town played fluent passing football for the majority of the 90 minutes.

James Taylor had a looping header from a Matt Warner corner tipped over by Brown as early as the fourth minute.

From the resulting flag-kick, Warner played it short to Ben Surey, who clipped the ball into the danger area where Neville Roach was unmarked to head home from close range with just five minutes on the clock.

Roach again went close from another Taylor assist, shrugging off the attentions of two defenders before drilling a low shot inches wide from the edge of the box with Brown rooted to the spot.

The front two continued to get in the thick of things as Town provided plenty of ammunition.

A free-kick by Warner picked out Taylor's run, but a desperate lunge by Gavin Hoyte somehow kept out the striker's goalbound header on the line.

On 25 minutes, the home side extended their lead in controversial circumstances.

Roach tried a flick over his head on the corner of the penalty box to put the ball into the danger-area, and defender Derwayne Stupple - as much in self-defence as anything - blocked the ball with his raised hands.

Referee Crouch didn't hesitate in awarding a penalty, which Matt Warner converted despite of the best efforts of Brown, who watched in despair as the ball squirmed underneath his dive on the greasy surface and into the back of the net.

The Bedford penalty area seemed to see all of the action in the first half.

Roach saw his low shot from 15 yards blocked, and Simieon Howell's rasping drive on the follow-up from the edge of the area was spectacularly tipped over the bar by Brown at full-stretch on 34 minutes.

The visitors never really got anywhere near the home goal in the opening 45 minutes, aside from a corner in first-half stoppage time which also bounced chaotically around in the Basingstoke six-yard box before being hooked away by Joe Bruce.

The interval brought the visitors some welcome respite, and Bedford came out strongly in the second half.

Aaron Cavill, who had scored with a spectacular 25-yard effort to snatch three points against the run of play in the league fixture at the start of the season, had a good set-piece opportunity, but blazed his free-kick well wide of Stuart Searle's goal from a similar distance.

There was also drama in the home penalty area on 52 minutes when Searle was penalised for smothering a Rob Watkins back-pass under pressure from Barrington Belgrave.

The indirect free-kick from the corner of the six-yard box was entrusted to Hoyte, who blasted his shot on target - but the Dragons' 'keeper was swiftly off his line ahead of the wall to block from point-blank range.

Basingstoke re-established domination, and Brown duly continued his one-man crusade to keep his side in contention.

Joe Harris replaced Roach with 15 minutes remaining, and the youngster could have had no fewer than four goals himself in the space of eight minutes, but he was unable to find a way past the Eagles goalkeeper.

In the closing moments, Bedford substitute David Daniels was presented with a free volley at the far post from a cross by Michael Lyon, only to waste his side's best chance of the entire 90 minutes as he failed to trouble Searle - firing instead into the away fans behind the goal from six yards out.

Basingstoke: Searle, Ray, Bruce, Watkins, Dolan, McKay, Howell, Surey, Roach (sub Harris 75 mins), Taylor, Warner (sub Townsend 90+2 mins). Subs (not used): Bristow, Quarm, Levis.