Basingstoke & District League Match Reports from Saturday 16th February , By Peter Raynbird.

There was a crowd of over 100 at the Silchester Common to see Silchester Village go through to the Final of the North Hants May Cup after beating Andover League club Kingsclere 2-1. It was Kingsclere with the first effort in the 3rd minute when Steff Fowler cut in from the right and fired wide and then at the other end Faz Omar played Peter White through and he forced a good save and both White and Omar had further opportunities without success as it was goal less at the break. Silchester looked to have broken the deadlock early in the second half when White netted after a saved shot from Carl Russell fell to him, but it was disallowed. In the 52nd minutes on came substitute Jeff Graham and there was an immediate impact as his though ball found White who scored at the near post in the 57th minute. In the 74th Stephen Burgess with a nice cross and Graham did the rest to make it 2-0. Kingsclere came back with a penalty, taken by Will Collier with ten minutes left. There was no further scares for the Basingstoke League club who will now meet Broughton in the Final.
Hook made their exit from the cup after losing a penalty shoot-out 5-4 to Broughton at home after normal time it finished 1-1. Hook looked the better team, even though they went behind after just three minutes from a penalty. It was in the 77th minute when they drew level when Sam Barker headed home a corner by Ismael Alvarez. . In the shootout Pete Silvester missed the opener for Hook and although Dan King, Dan Alliston, Jack McKee and Dan Mellors all converted, Broughton made no mistake from all five.
Basingstoke Saturday League
Division One
After suffering three defeats in a row, a hat trick from Ashley Elward helped AFC Berg back to winning ways to a 5-3 win against AFC Aldermaston Reserves. Jessy Todd gave them a 15th minute lead following a cross from Elward and Elward made it 2-0 in the 20th. Lee Wheeler headed home a Matt Wilkins free kick to put Aldermaston back in the game, but Elward scored his second to make it 3-1 at half time. The fourth goal for Berg was scored by Reece Chapman, a 35 yard shot in off the post. A cross from Michael Porter was put away by Porter to reduce the arrears, but Elward soon completed his hat trick to extend the lead to 5-2. With five to go Luquan Small took on two men and netted the third for the visitors.
Herriard Sports are off the bottom of the table after registering their first league win of the season after beating Tadley Calleva A 6-3. It was Tadley who took a 12th minute lead after a free kick taken by Jack Jones led to Bradley Cox netting. Herriard drew level two minutes later and it was their first league goal since September, Sam Weber scoring following a good ball from Chris Smith. Weber then played through to Connor Lovell in the 25th and Herriard made it 3-1 from a penalty taken by Nick Saunders. Two penalties were then conceded by the Herriard defence and Jack Jones duly converted both to make it 3-3 at the break. In the 60th a bullet header from Weber from a Chris Smith free kick on the hour was followed quickly with another from Saunders. There was little from Tadley apart from a good effort from Fred Bull. Their sixth goal came in the 79th when Weber set up substitute, Charlie Taylor. Near the end a Herriard player was sent off after an incident with a spectator.
Division Two
Renegades retain their one-point lead at the top of Division Two with a 2-0 win against Chineham. They went in front after two minutes when Danny Costen headed home a corner by Richard McCoubrie. The lead was extended when the Chineham defence was caught on the break by Matt Baker and his square ball was picked by Ricky Smith who put away the chance. Chineham looked always in the game with Tom Roworth finding Paddy Callahan, only for the keeper to pull off a fine save. Ian Ryan did have a couple of chances for Renegades to extend their lead, otherwise it was always a tight game.
Overton United B keep the pressure on the leaders with a 3-1 win against third place Oakridge. The Oakridge keeper Jake Barnes was beaten in the 10th minute when he was deceived by a Roffey corner that ended up in the net. Oakridge had plenty of chances to draw level, including a a penalty kick taken by Terry Dingly after Aaron Johns was brought down and saved and they conceded again in the 42nd when a good run by Liam Randall led to Andy Bullock netting. There was more. pressure from Oakridge, but it was Overton who were to increase their advantage in the 70th when a pass from Andy Parker found Bullock who put away his second. Oakridge did at last manage to score, much to late when a ball from Sam Trodd was finished off by Aaron Johns.
Ryan Watts was the match winner for Basingstoke Athletic who met AFC Berg Reserves at Stratton Park, coming back to win 3-2 after trailing 2-0, with Watts netting twice in the final three minutes. The first half ended goalless, but within three minutes of the restart Berg went in front. It was a quick break by Stefan Graham, who chased the long clearance from Karl Holeborough and slotted past the keeper. Within a minute it was 2-0 when this time it was Steven De’ath on the break and scoring in a one on one. It took Athletic just one minute to reply through Paul Taylor and it remained at 2-1 until the 87th minute. A corner was taken by Taylor and fine volley from Watts made it 2-2 and another corner kick, again taken by Taylor, was headed into the far corner by Watts to snatch all three points.
AFC Aldermaston A remain bottom of the table after losing their seventh league game when narrowly beaten 2-1 by Twentyten Reserves. Twentyten Manager Jack Barrett felt although there was only one goal between the two teams, it was a comfortable three points, as apart from that their goal, keeper Darren Gary had just one other save to make. The opener came in the 10th minute when Olly Knox put Stephen Bean through who rounded the keeper and placed into an empty net. Knox had two decent chances with headers to increase the lead, but his team was shaken when Aldermaston equalised. It took Twentyten two minutes to regain the lead when first team striker Ryan Lupton scored with a drive some 30 yards out and it proved the decider.