BASINGSTOKE Town Ladies put up a good account of themselves, but were unable to pull off a giant killing at Portsmouth in the Hampshire Cup.

The visitors shocked the home side as they took the lead after eight minutes as after a handball, Lindsey Beverley fired a free-kick high over the goalkeeper into the top corner.

Portsmouth level things four minutes later, but Basingstoke took just a minute to take back the lead.

Helen Ogle was fouled near the corner flag and Beverley whipped in a free-kick to the back post, where Charlie Powell headed in.

The visitors looked to heading into half-time leading, but Portsmouth had other ideas as scored twice before the break to lead 3-2 and scored twice more in the second-half.

With 10 minutes left, Basingstoke’s Ogle received the ball on the half way line, took on three Portsmouth players only to have her shot blocked by a great last ditch challenge when shooting for goal.

Basingstoke Town Ladies manager Robert Quilter said: “We took a lot of pride from the game as we knew how difficult it was going to be.

"We scored two great goals and managed to limit them to long range efforts for a lot of the game, but after a lot of defending the girl’s energy levels went down and they took advantage.

“I felt the two goals before half time were crucial and changed the game as we were fairly comfortable at that point.”