Bashley FC 4 Colden Common Development 1, Southampton Senior Cup Round
2, Tuesday 6th November 2018
On a Tuesday back in late July, long before I decided to start
this blog (well, a few weeks before), I was on holiday in the New Forest with
my family at my in-law’s park holiday home.
Faced with yet another long evening spent watching the dreaded
Cyril and Cybil Squirrel show at the site’s clubhouse, I’d decided enough was
enough. I needed of a way out. I simply couldn’t take any more of those damn
squirrels! It was just getting too much for me. I’d even started to find myself
humming the songs the squirrel’s (and of course their good friend Pat the Pony –
yes, really) sang at random points throughout the day. In public. And loudly.
Surely I was only one step away from full-blown madness!
Thankfully – and to my surprise – when I suggested to my
wife that I might go and watch a local football match that Tuesday evening, rather
than spend another couple of hours surrounded by caffeine-fuelled hyperactive
kids and over-enthusiastic talking squirrels (and a pony) she agreed to the
idea. Or at least she didn’t say no. Not really. Not in so many words. Anyway,
to cut a long story short, I got permission. Kind of.
It was actually on that holiday, in fact at the exact moment
that I decided to go and watch a match that Tuesday evening, that I decided I
would spend this season groundhopping around Non-League grounds. The idea for
this blog, however, didn’t come until the morning of the first match of the new
season when, purely on impulse, I decided to start one. So, in a weird way, you
can even blame Cyril and Cybil Squirrel for these ramblings.
Anyway, back to the point. On that particular baking hot
Tuesday, I noticed that Brockenhurst FC and Bashley FC (both local to my
in-laws holiday home) had pre-season friendlies at their respective grounds
that evening.
Unsure of which match to attend, and unsure how to conduct
Twitter polls at that stage in my social media-career, I instead decided to
flip a coin to decide which match to watch.
Brockenhurst ultimately won that coin toss (and indeed the ensuing
match 7-1), but I promised myself that the next time I was down in the New
Forest, should Bashley be at home, then I’d go and watch them play.
Fast forward nearly four months and I’m back in the New Forest.
Although not on holiday this time. I’m there in my other guise as a children’s
author, visiting some schools in the area to talk to the children about mybooks (and hopefully sell a few copies as well).
Upon booking the visit during mid-October, one of the first
things I did was to check whether Bashley were due to be at home while I was scheduled
to be there. They were.
And so it was that at just before 19:00 on a dark and windy
Tuesday evening, I find myself pulling into the cricket club car park located
opposite Bashley’s Bashley Road Ground, to watch The Bash take on Colden Common
Development Squad/Reserves in the second round of the Southampton Senior Cup.
After a brief moment of concern regarding the fact that
there were no floodlights on for a match that I wrongly believed was due to
start at 19:30 (it was actually 19:45), I was quickly assured by a steward that
there was indeed a match on, it’s just they try to keep the costs down by using
the floodlights for as little time as possible. Prudent.
Having therefore arrived at Bashley Road a little earlier
than needed, and paid my £5 admission fee (no program unfortunately), I headed
to the clubhouse for a fresh-out-of-the-oven sausage roll (delicious) and a mug
of coffee (which came in a mug which could easily have doubled as a small jug).
Noticing that the Liverpool game was on the TV I settled down to watch a bit of
it. A bit being the optimum word. Five minutes into the second half I decided
that I’d be eating by sausage roll alfresco this evening!
Bashley Road is a lovely little ground located on the edge
of the New Forest. It is dominated by three stands on one side of the ground – one
seated main stand, and then two fair-sized covered terraces next to it,
although only one was open.
The game itself was a fairly one-sided affair, with The Bash
dominating long spells of the game against their development squad opponents,
which also (I’m led to believe by other spectators) featured a few reserve and
first-team players.
When the hosts took the lead just a few minutes in, Hugh
Dathan heading in from close range after a floated Harrison White free-kick
missed all the players and struck the cross bar, it appeared only a case of how
many they would score.
Bashley forced a succession of corners which the visitors
looked far from comfortable at dealing with, but despite some good chances they
were unable to add to their lead (see videos for some missed opportunities).
At the other end, Colden Common looked fairly lively going
forward and fashioned a few half chances which showed that they might just be
able to capitalise on any Bashley complacency. For the visitor’s, Luke Maurin
particularly caught the eye, and certainly looked like he would be Common’s
main hope for a route back into the game.
Somehow the visitors managed to get to the interval just a
goal behind. During the half-time break, the wind picked up and the rain
started to lash down, causing me and other supporters to seek solace under one
of the aforementioned covered areas.
With a wet pitch, and mistakes likely, maybe, just maybe,
the young Colden Common team would be able to force their way back into the
game
However, any chance of a comeback was quickly extinguished
minutes after the restart when Dan Munday went through the Common defence like
the proverbial hot knife through butter and calmly finished past the keeper.
This goal sparked off a few more songs from Bashley’s small
but fairly vocal band of supporters who were stood in the terraces near where I
was standing. There may have only been a handful of them, but they kept me entertained
when the action on the pitch flagged with some interesting ditties.
It was three not long after, when Jamie Webber slotted home
from just inside the area.
At this point it seemed the goals would start pouring just
as fast as the rain was pouring from the night sky.
To their credit, though, The Common boys bounced back and gave
themselves a glimmer or hope of salvaging something when Maurin’s cross was
poorly dealt with by the Bashley keeper, and substitute Maciet Marcinkowsk was
presented with an easy chance to force the ball home from close range.
This prompted a period of pressure from the visitors, and
Bashley started to look a little wobbly for the first time all evening. Had Common
forced a second at this point, then the last 15 minutes could have been very
interesting.
However, a high and reckless lunge from Costa Soupmendis
with about ten minutes left, led to the visiting player receiving a straight
red, to nobody’s great surprise. In fairness to him, the pitch was extremely slippery
by this point, and there had been a few mistimed and niggly fouls from players on
both teams throughout the match, but there’s little doubt that the referee made
the right decision on this occasion.
In injury time, The Bash completed the scoring when
substitutes Mike Okubote and Brogen Sims combined well in the area, with the
former crossing for the latter to stoop a headed effort past the keeper and
into the net.
So it is Bashley who advance to the next round of the
Southampton Senior Cup.
It may have been a wet and windy evening in the New Forest, and a
fairly one-sided match, but at least there were no talking, dancing squirrels
anywhere in sight!
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