Kingstonian 1

Basingstoke 2

Ks boss Geoff Chapple used his last pre-season friendly, on Monday against a strong Basingstoke side, to cast a last eye over the lads who did so well against Hampton last week in the Saft Nife Shield.

Keeper Jerome John came through unscathed after picking up a knock against Colchester, and apart from Scott Corbett, Wayne Brown and Danny Smith, we again saw the depth of the new Ks squad and what will be the core of the recently reformed Suburban League Ks Reserves.

Basingstoke should have taken the lead in the very first minute when striker Tommy Killick raced into the Ks' box and shot right straight across the face of John's goal.

After five minutes Paul Coombes dropped in a high cross which Danny Barker connected with in the Ks box and although he lobbed John he was just over. Basingstoke again should have scored after 11 minutes when a long ball from defence was completely missed by the Ks' defence and Coombes had only John to beat, but the keeper did extremely well to block with his leg.

A minute later Ks had their first real attack and scored when midfielder John Jones crossed into the Stoke area and winger Gavin Holligan got a head to it before ex-Ks keeper Graham Benstead.

After 20 minutes Ks left winger Nando Pernay turned a couple of defenders but ballooned the ball over the bar. A minute later the visitors responded when Paul Wilkinson blasted from 30 yards; John did well to smother.

Three minutes later Smith threaded through a sweet ball to Pernay in the Basingstoke area and looked to be held, but no penalty.

On 33 minutes Basingstoke almost equalised when left winger Ian Mancey went round John but his acute-angled drive was cleared off the line by Smith.

Basingstoke continued the pressure with John smothering a Coombes 20 yard drive and then, on 36 minutes, Mancey's smash just inside the Ks' box rocketed against the bar.

The sweltering heat did not seem to affect the pace of the Ks' strikers as the second half opened with Corbett and Brown finding Holligan, sub Savid Stephens and Horatio Willock but their runs were often blocked by the Basingstoke defence before they could get interesting.

On 64 minutes Holligan exploited a muddle between Benstead and centre back Steve Harris but he couldn't get his drive on target.

On 82 minutes a long high ball caused problems deep in the Ks' area and Brown was adjudged to have haldled the ball out.

Up stepped right back Tony Cleve to blast the penalty low to John's right.

Kingstonian: John, Smith, Salisman, Jones (Bochenski 76), Brown, Gray, Holligan, Corbett, Bochenski (Stephens 45), Willock, Pernay.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.