Eastleigh 2nd XI 4-3 Basingstoke Res.

TEAM: Andy Wynn, John Horner, James Screen, Tom Roberts, Aaron Martin (c), Scott Sampson, Adam Roberts, Aiden Sainsbury, Nathan Lynch, Justin Bennett, Tom Price

SUBS: Zach Glasspool, Scott Waters, Jason Sangha, Grant Porter

Match Report by Jamie Montigue

Having played so well away from home in recent weeks with three straight victories on their travels, Eastleigh may not have wanted to come back to the Silverlake Stadium - but in a closely fought encounter, one which certainly did not lack goals; the form was brought back with them as Ady and Brian's youngsters secured their first home win of the season.

Tom Price came close in the opening stages with his fourth minute effort not far wide of the mark, cutting in from the left hand side, following an excellent interception from Tom Roberts in the centre of midfield.

The pressure from the hosts continued as Aiden Sainsbury had a well struck shot from the edge of the area saved, before the same player found Justin Bennett in a threatening position. The Eastleigh forward who is supposedly going out on loan to Gosport Borough, made a sharp turn to leave his man standing before firing a whisker away from opening the scoring with a great attempt.

Meanwhile, at the opposite end of the park, Andy Wynn the Eastleigh stopper was called into action to produce a double save at the hands of David Tarpey.

Mousa Jalloh had a free kick deflected behind just a minute later for the visitors.

Back on the front foot, Eastleigh found their stride once more to break the deadlock with a quarter of an hour played. Without a great deal on, or so it seemed, JUSTIN BENNETT weaved an opening with a fine piece of individual skill on the right hand side of the Basingstoke penalty area to turn two defenders before squeezing an unerring finish through the legs of Chris Waller for 1-0.

Out of nothing, Basingstoke found themselves back in it - pegging the Spitfires back with the equaliser in the nineteenth minute. A hopeful ball into the box from right full back Marc Vockins deceived everyone in the penalty area, including Wynn as the cross went right the way through and found the back of the net.

The home side responded well to this with promising football in the final third. An excellent ball by Aiden Sainsbury behind the defence found Adam Roberts whose cross was headed on by Bennett before finally being beaten away by the 'Stoke keeper.

Six minutes later, Eastleigh came even closer when a Nathan Lynch downward header was hooked off the line acrobatically to deny an otherwise certain goal, with Waller beaten.

Eastleigh made their dominance in possession count when Tom Price beat Adam Aimable for pace, latching on to Lynch's weighted pass into the area. Aimable put out a leg, by which time the ball was already well ahead and the mistimed challenge cost Basingstoke a penalty kick and ultimately a goal. AIDEN SAINSBURY converting the spot kick to the keeper's right to make it 2-1.

However, just when it looked like the hosts would go into the break with their lead in tact, for the second time in the game, Eastleigh were unable to hold on to the slender one goal 'cushion'.

Three minutes remained in the half when Aaron Martin brought down Tarpey on the edge of the penalty area. The referee a little hesitant to say the least, eventually awarded a penalty, and JOE HARRIS made no mistake to square things up with a confident strike into the bottom right hand corner to send Wynn the wrong way.

HALF TIME: Eastleigh Res. 2-2 Basingstoke Res.

Into the second half, a neatly worked move between Harris and Tarpey, saw the latter fire into the sidenetting from close range on 51 minutes.

David Tarpey, Basingstoke's liveliest player by a mile, found the back of the net a moment of two later, but had the effort ruled out for an earlier infringement.

Eastleigh's first chance of the half came nine minutes in when Price picked out Adam Roberts' run. Only a timely intervention from the Dragons centre half, Adam Aimable was enough to bring the attack to an end.

The next opportunity again fell to the Spitfires. This time Nathan Lynch was incredibly unlucky to see his extravagant over head kick land just an inch or two the wrong side of the upright.

This proved to be the striker's last action, as Zach Glasspool took to the field to replace Lynch seconds later, in a double substitution which also saw Tom Roberts make way.

A minute shy of the hour mark, an excellent knock from Jon Horner, the Eastleigh right back, was met by a sharp turn and shot from Bennett that had to be turned away to deny the former Andover man.

Making an almost immediate impact following the substitution, Glasspool more than played his part in Eastleigh restoring their lead with a 61st minute goal. The Eastleigh forward robbed his marker of possession with good work rate before playing in TOM PRICE. This coming from a James Screen throw on the left hand side.

Price ran through to provide a cool, calm and collected finish slotting the ball comfortably past the keeper for 3-2.

The clock running down, Basingstoke went in search of the equaliser just as they had done so well in the first forty-five within a short space of time of Eastleigh scoring on both occasions. Though this time it was not to come, Mat Neems coming closest forcing a save out of Wynn on 73 minutes. Prior to this Jalloh had a effort deflected behind.

Crucially, Eastleigh ensured they scored the next goal to pull away from their opponents; now with a two goal cushion in their favour as JUSTIN BENNETT grabbed his second of the night.

On the counter attack, a perfect through ball from the middle of the park found Bennett in acres of space in front of goal as he used his pace to get away from the 'Stoke defence and make it 4-2 with a sublime finish.

The excellent Adam Roberts was replaced shortly after, having picked up a knock. Jason Sangha his replacement.

It could have been five for the Spitfires as Bennett, on a hattrick, unselfishly pulled back for Glasspool. The substitute failed to make it count from a decent position firing wide.

Aaron Martin headed behind from a James Screen corner seven minutes from time with a great effort but in the closing stages, deep into stoppage time Dave Tarpey got the goal that his performance merited with a low strike that bounced off the inside of the post though Eastleigh had already done enough by this point to secure all three points.

FULL TIME: Eastleigh Res. 4-3 Basingstoke Res.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Deal sealed with Lawshield

Eastleigh Res. 0-1 Tooting & Mitcham Utd Res.

Richard Hill