A SPIRITED second half fightback wasn’t enough for Basingstoke Town as their four league game winning run came to an end away to Tiverton Town.

Town fought back from a three-goal half-time deficit, but were unable to come away with a point from their trip to Devon on Saturday.

The visitors made a positive start and created the game’s first chance. Sam Deadfield’s pass picked out the run of Sam Smart who deftly flicked the ball back to Michael Atkinson who drilled a first time shot narrowly wide.

Despite enjoying the majority of possession, Town fell behind on 18 minutes when Marcus Johnson-Schuster misjudged a cross allowing Levi Landricombe to open the scoring.

A couple of minutes later it was 2-0, Landricombe again the goal scorer as he curled a free-kick into the top corner.

Basingstoke rallied and Shane Hollamby was denied, as was Jack McKnight while Sam Smart couldn’t turn home the rebound.

The hosts struck a killer blow just before the break. Central defender Ben Mammola was allowed to waltz through the Basingstoke half before evading Hollamby and poking the ball past Colm McAdden for a third Tiverton goal.

Town got the best possible start to the second half. Smart was fed in behind by Dan Collier and he poked past Martin Rice to get his side on the scoresheet inside the first minute of the second-half.

Despite efforts from Tim Wohlfiel and McKnight, Town couldn’t seem to break down the Tiverton back line.

It wasn’t until deep into stoppage time that Charlie Kennedy burst forward from midfield and fired an unstoppable shot into the bottom corner to pull it back to 3-2, but there was not enough time for the comeback.