BASINGSTOKE Town gifted visiting Leamington two goals in the opening 13 minutes, as they lost at the Ark Cancer Charity Stadium.

Having said that, the visitors were the best team to visit Hampshire this season and showed why they only conceded once in their last 11 hours of football, as they collected another clean sheet with a 2-0 win.

They were a very solid unit from back to front and gave the young home side little chance to carve out any real openings in the game.

Town boss Terry Brown was forced into two changes from the side which booked their place in the Hampshire Senior Cup final, as both Aaron Redford and George Bennett were injured.

So into the starting XI came Terence van Cooten at left back and Ashleigh Artwell in midfield.

Leamington started the better of the two sides and Callum Gittings had the ball in the net after three minutes from a header, only for it to be ruled offside.

The let off was short lived as three minutes later a long throw into the penalty area saw the home defence fail to clear and Ahmed Obeng slotted home.

Then seven minutes later, Town defender Joe Gater lost the ball to Rob Thompson-Brown and the winger fired in from the edge of the box, over the out stretched arm of Alex Tokarczyk.

The home side responded as Charlie Kennedy sent Marcus Johnson-Schuster clear down the wing. The left back sent in a lovely ball and Aaron Jarvis toe poked the chance wide.

Soon after, Town found a way through again, as Michael Atkinson found himself alone on the edge of the area, shooting at goal looked the best option, but instead he tried to feed the ball to Artwell and the chance was gone.

After this the visitors closed the game down, which saw few chances for the rest of the opening 45 minutes.

Home striker Jarvis won a free-kick on the edge of the area which saw Sam Deadfield able to get the ball over the wall, but his effort hit the side netting.

Then Obeng had a shot from the right, but the ball was well taken by Tokarczyk and the visitors went in at the break leading 2-0.

Early in the second half from a corner, Jarvis fired over with an over head kick.

Then on the hour mark, the home side had to reshuffle their side.

This was after centre back Gater was injured, this saw Charlie Kennedy move to the heart of the defence, while Artwell switched wings, so Nana Owusu could play down the right flank.

Soon after the visitors looked set to add a third, but Courtney Baker-Richardson scuffed his shot and the danger was gone.

Then on 74 minutes Thompson-Brown glanced a header just wide, before van Cooten, who showed some very nice touches, found sub Oluwatobi Adekunkle, but his shot was blocked.

In the final minute of the contest, left back van Cooten tried a shot from distance, which just went over the bar.

After the game, Town boss Brown said: “It was a frustrating afternoon. We have given away two desperately soft goals.

“My boys have put in a shift today, but I think we only had four chances in the whole of the game and never got a shot on target, so their goalie has not had to make a save.

“They are second in the league for a reason and they showed why today.

Next up for Town is an away trip to Kings Lynn on Saturday. The Norfolk side are two places above the Dragons in 11th.