SUPER striker Ben Wright was involved in all four goals, as Basingstoke Town, beat visiting Merstham 4-1 in their latest pre-season outing.

The home side were out of the blocks quickly and in the second minute, the impressive Shane Hollomby on his debut, played a long ball to Aaron Jarvis and he set-up Ashleigh Artwell, who fired over.

In the eighth minute, a point blank save from Chris Haigh denied Ben Wright the opening goal from a header.

The same striker went close again five minutes later, as his free-kick from 20 yards was pushed away as it headed for the top corner.

However, Wright was not to be denied, as he scored the opening goal of the contest on 22 minutes from the penalty spot.

This was after a lovely cross field ball from Aaron Jarvis found George Bennett on the left side of the penalty area and Simon Cooper brought him down.

Wright then turned play maker, as he put in a great ball for Jarvis, who was just about to pull the trigger, when he was tackled by Jake Hutchings.

The visitors best chance of the first 45 minutes, came just before the half hour mark, as Cooper headed a Merstham corner just over.

The home side then doubled their lead on 38 minutes. Wright’s corner was cleared, only as far as captain David Ray, he crossed the ball in and Charlie Kennedy scored with a glancing header.

It so nearly could have been 3-0 at the break, as Wright’s low shot was spilled by Haigh and Jarvis got to the rebound. Unfortunately, he fired the ball too high over the goalkeeper and it crashed against the crossbar.

The second half got off to the worst possible start for the Dragons, as Merstham pulled a goal back in the first minute from Sahr Kabba, as he got in behind the home defence.

Any chance of a comeback was quickly ended as two minutes later, a nice flowing move involving Kennedy and Artwell was ended by Wright to make it 3-1.

Just before the hour mark, former Hartley Wintney man Hollamby fell awkwardly after a challenge from Nathan Gordon and needed attention for a number of minutes on his neck.

It was a shame as it ended an impressive debut for the defender, but after treatment he was fine.

At this point, both sides made a lot of changes, making the Town line-up even younger.

On the hour mark, Merstam’s Kabba was denied by a one handed save and as the game drew to a close, the home side started to dominate again.

The lively Sam Smart found Will Shaw at the back post, but he just failed to convert.

Then three minutes from time, Smart won a free-kick after an awful challenge from Hutchings down the right hand side Wright whipped the free-kick into the danger area and sub Dan Bayliss planted his header into the back of the net to complete the 4-1 win.

After the game, Town boss Terry Brown said: “I am delighted with the performance. Ben Wright had a great game for us, as did Charlie Kennedy. I thought Shane Hollomby had a fantastic debut so it has been a good day at the office.”

Next for Town on Tuesday night is a visit from National League side Woking. Town will be minus twins Robert and Michael Atkinson, but are hopeful midfielder Sam Deadfield will be back.