Derby delight for Basingstoke boss (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Town close in on the play-offs

1:00pm Monday 23rd January 2012 in Football By John Boyman

BASINGSTOKE Town manager Frank Gray was delighted with his side’s performance as they got their play-off challenge back on track by beating Hampshire rivals Eastleigh.

Saturday’s game at The Camrose saw Town bring an end to two unwanted records. The victory was their first at home in the league since late September, while striker Tim Sills scored the only goal of the game to end a 10-match drought stretching back to November.

Results elsewhere also went Basingstoke’s way, with just two of the eight teams above them in the Blue Square Bet South table winning, meaning that the gap between Gray’s men and the play-off places is down to seven points.

Town have games in hand against all bar one of the sides above them and they have a great chance to close the gap further in the coming weeks as their next four games are all against sides outside the current top 10.

All in all, it was an excellent day for the club – and manager Gray is hoping that the result marks the start of a good run to the end of the season.

“I thought that was an excellent performance and we deserved to win the game,” he said. “It was not just about football because we dug in well.

“We defended well in the first half, matching them physically and defending set pieces, and then used the wind to our advantage after the break. We penned them in, got into good positions and created chances.

“We had a good chat before the game about what we need to do between now and the end of the season – and this is just the start. We’ll take each game one at a time but there are 18 left so there is still a lot to play for.

“Getting that home win has been a long time coming and it is nice to get a clean sheet as well.

“The attitude of the players was good before the game, it was a good performance and, more importantly, the right result.”

See The Monday Gazette for a full report and more pictures from the game.