It is Basingstoke Athletic and Herriard Sports who will contest the Final of the Basingstoke B Cup at the Winklebury Football Complex on Saturday 28th March.

Both Semi Finals were played at Brighton Hill and it was Athletic having the more comfortable passage through, beating Preston Candover 5-2. Dale Bristow set them on the winning road with the opener in the tenth minute, but Preston leveled in the 35th when Kye Theodore netted following a Joe Tomlinson corner kick. The pitch became very muddy after the break but Athletic mastered the conditions better and Matt Button scored twice before Nathan Read missed a penalty that would have extended the lead. Ryan Evans did so soon after however and the fifth completed a hat trick for Button. Buckland scored his second late in the game for Preston after a shot by Dan Trump was parried by the keeper. Herriard Sports soon go over their shock 8-0 defeat the previous week against AFC Berg by getting into the final after beating Basingstoke United 3-1. Martin Miles gave Herriard a 25th minute lead, lobbing keeper James Sallows following a pass from Karl Buttle. Three minutes later United were level when Tom Hartley put away a penalty, but in the 36th minute Herriard also had a penalty awarded. Sallows dived the right way when Miles took the kick to keep it level at half time. In the 67th minute Player/Manager Craig Lewington regained the Herriard lead when he netted the rebound after the 35 yard shot from Miles had hit the post. A 25 yard grass cutter from a Stuart Minton free kick gave Herriard a 3-1 advantage and although under a lot of pressure in the final ten, Herriard held out.

The Quarter Final of the Peter Raynbird Cup did not take place as Hampshire Irons could not raise a team to play Rising Sun DC and are therefore eliminated from the cup and Rising Sun DC now through to the Semi Finals to play Hook.

The big game in the Premier Division between Hook and Basingstoke Royals was switched to the Rotherwick pitch and it ended with Hook losing 5-1, their first league defeat of the season and it takes Royals five points clear at the top. Steve Price was in top form again following up his eight the previous week with three more this Saturday.
Royals went into a four goal lead in the first half. Price with the opener after six minutes with a fine shot from the edge of the box, Tom Smith beat keeper Greg Archer from 35 yards out for number two, James Gilham made it three and Price the fourth. Aaron King did force a fine save from Royals keeper Richard Munday, but little else from the home side in this half. Archer did well to save the penalty awarded in the 60th but failed to stop Price following up to complete his hat trick. Hook did manage a late goal from Andy Parker after Mark Beagley set him up. Bramley United and Tadley Calleva A fought out a 3-3 draw. Bramley had the bare eleven and finished the game with players carrying injuries, but at least Manager Andy Lear picked up another point and clear of the bottom two. Stuart Leddy gave Bramley a 10th minute lead with a 20 yard shot that was too good for keeper Kieran Monger, but Tadley hit back to level five minutes later with a curler from Michael Abbott. It was Bramley who went in at the break with a lead when Jack Arthur .took advantage following a free kick. Bramley went 3-1 up when Monger flapped at a Simon Goff free kick and Les Wood pounced on the loose ball. Tadley came back strongly and the arrears were reduced when Kyle Theodore finished off a pass from Ben Todd and then after a shot from Theodore was parried, Stephen Burgess was on the spot to snap up the rebound. The Sherborne pitch was again ruled waterlogged and the match against Welly Old Boys was postponed.

Overton United A moved a little closer to the Division One Championship by beating bottom of the table North Warnborough 8-1. I was at Berrydown for this one sided affair. They were two goals up in ten minutes, goals from Jessie Todd and Joe Lake, Todd scored again with 30 yard effort sailing into the empty net with keeper Ryan Thorpe drawn out of the penalty area and further goals came from a Ben Evans a header and Siyani Thomas for 5-0 lead. Borough brought on substitute Jason Williams and he scored early in the second half to make it 5-1. Nathan Bennis then scored a straight hat trick and Ross Soper-Dyer made it 8-1. Manager Smith came on late as sub and hit the bar with a 35 yard free kick. The 5-2 defeat suffered by DJS Telecoms has also boosted the Overton A chances of the title. Pete Lomax gave DJS a fifth minute lead, but this was soon cancelled out when Jake Tanner headed home a Joe Osborne cross. Twentyten were awarded a penalty, taken by Carl Pearson, saved by keeper Chris McKenzie, but Osborne followed up to net to regain the lead. Right on half time Lomax scored again to see it all square at the break. Twentyten got on top in the second period and goals from Osborne and Pearson gave them a 4-2 lead and a fifth came when a shot from Jake Tanner went in off Danny Stafford. To add to the DJS problems they had Kevin Banning sent off for alleged abusive language and threatening behavior towards the referee.

In Division Two the pitch at Castle Fields was unfit so the big clash between leaders Bounty United and the unbeaten Winklebury Wizards was not played and this postponement gave Labour Club the chance to move on to level points with them and Basingstoke Athletic after beating AFC Alderamston A 6-0 away. Cameron George was again the star man, scoring four of the six. His first came after 20 minutes following a Mark Thorpe cross and after Mike Hill had given them a two goal interval lead; he then completed his hat trick by the 60th. Wayne Barlow latched onto a long clearance from keeper Sam White to make it 5-0 and George went on a solo run and rounded the keeper for the sixth. AFC Berg picked up another point on their visit to Overton United B after a 3-3 draw. Shane West had Berg in front after just 30 seconds and then Darren White equalized in the 11th. Berg came again to lead when Kieran Alleyne scored his eleventh for the strugglers. Overton then began to get the better of things and after Matt Bonner equalized they went in front for the first time when Tita Martins converted a penalty after White was brought down. There was four minutes left when Berg scored again, when West came up with his second.