Wickham Wanderers Under 12's Match Report 29-Feb-2004

Wickham Wanderers 0 - 7 Basingstoke Town Colts.

Wickham Wanderers, who had enjoyed an unbeaten run stretching back to the first weekend of 2004, saw that run come to a shuddering halt as they suffered their heaviest defeat of the season against Basingstoke Town Colts.

Immediately from the kick-off, Basingstoke surged forward, and won a number of corners, all of which were whipped in dangerously, and any of which could have resulted in the opening goal. However, the Wickham defence managed to scramble them all to safety - but just when the home side seemed to have settled after the opening onslaught, a defensive mix-up gifted the visitors the opening goal, when Luke Taylor poked the ball past George Sage in the Wickham goal.

Basingstoke capitalised on this early lead, and quickly went further ahead when Paul O'Hagan knocked in a corner from close range. Brandon Read added a third for the away team, and Taylor increased their advantage when he latched on to a long clearance from William Evans in the Basingstoke goal, to beat the Wickham offside trap, and coolly slip the ball past Sage.

As the first-half drew to a close, Wickham began to create chances, and Ryan Shepherd was unfortunate to see one shot flash past the post, and even more unfortunate a few moments later when his shot beat the goalkeeper but struck the post and bounced to safety.

Wickham started the second-half in a far more positive fashion, with Charlie Allsop and Daniel Crane surging forward in an endeavour to find a way back into the game, but the Basingstoke defence, well marshalled by their captain Ross Cook, stood firm. Indeed, it was Basingstoke who scored the next goal, when Taylor completed an excellent hat-trick following a break-away move.

At 5 - 0 down, Wickham knew they were beaten, and although Sam Peacock turned in a characteristically strong display to keep Basingstoke's attacking forays at bay, Scott James eventually added a further goal.

In the closing minutes, Wickham could have scored a consolation goal when a free-kick from George Westbrook was beaten out only as far as Shepherd standing on the edge of the penalty area, but his fiercely struck shot crashed against the crossbar.

In the closing seconds, Basingstoke added their seventh goal when Gavin Harkness met an in-swinging corner, and his close- range shot hit the underside of the bar, and just crossed the line.

(Report submitted  by James Morris)