IN a surprise change in schedule, Basingstoke Town FC took on Championship side Watford FC at the weekend. 

‘Stoke welcomed the Championship side's under 21 squad to Winklebury Sports Complex on Saturday, July 22.

The fixture against the EFL side was arranged as a celebration of Ezio Touray’s move to the Championship club during the 2022/23 campaign. Touray has since moved on from Watford and is currently trialling with another professional side.

Watford got on the scoresheet first, before Ashleigh Artwell got ‘Stoke level with a great finish on 20 minutes. 

After the half time, Watford scored first and it looked like ‘Stoke would suffer a defeat but a trialist scored an equaliser two minutes from time, resulting in the game ending in a 2-2 draw.

Speaking after the match on the club’s YouTube channel, manager Dan Brownlie said: “We knew it was going to be a tough test, they were obviously expected to dominate the ball and fitness wise we anticipated that they would be slightly better than us.

“For a large part of the game, I thought we competed really well, the result was testament to that.

“In terms of what we wanted to get out of it, we’ve tried a few people in certain positions, we’ve got minutes into legs, and we’ve welcomed a couple of new trialists that did really well.”

Speaking about the squad, Brownlie said: “Any player that comes into this existing squad has got to do something special to put players out of shirts because last year was an unbelievable season. The boys that played last year are more than capable at Step 3, that’s why I signed them.

“The players coming in, today we had a new centre half and a new striker, and another lad who I think is going to be destined for a higher level, but we are happy to give him a platform and who knows what will happen in the future.”

The first game of the new season will see 'Stoke face Tiverton Town away from home on Saturday, August 5.

Speaking ahead of the new season, Brownlie said: “I think we are going to have different challenges this year, with distances covered, we are going to have to utilise the squad. We are probably going to be a little bit heavier in terms of squad numbers, which obviously creates competition.”

Brownlie added: “If the season was to start tomorrow I would be really happy with where we are and what we’ve got.”