BASINGSTOKE Town continued their recent excellent run with their third National League South win on the trot.

The latest side to be downed by the Dragons were Hemel Hempstead 2-0 at the Camrose.

The victory moved Basingstoke off the bottom of the table and they are now only two points away from safety.

There certainly were plenty of positives to come out of the game which included the debut of new centre half Jack Deaman who commanded the defence. It also saw Ryan Case move from centre half to right back and he had a sterling 90 minutes.

James Harper returned to midfield and looked good, as did Rowan Vine who started in the forward line.

The only negative from the afternoon was an ankle injury to robust midfielder Jamie Brown after a bad tackle 28 minutes in to the game.

A delighted Town manager Michael Gilkes, said: “I think for me, this was the first game since taking over, that I felt we were in control from the start to the finish.”

The Dragons certainly roared from the opening kick-off with Manny Williams very lively supporting the front two as he closed down the Hemel defenders.

He forced the first save after two minutes, from a through ball from Brown and then Brown himself had a shot blocked soon after.

The only real threat from Hemel came from Luke Thomas, as he seemed to breeze pass players every time he got the ball.

He produced a lovely left footed shot which Aaron Howe did well to save and then soon after, he hit another well struck strike just over the bar.

New Town boy Deaman was booked after 19 minutes for a challenge on Hemel captain James Potten, but the centre half then made sure he kept his head and stayed on the park for the whole 90 minutes.

The next bad challenge in the game saw another yellow card from referee Gary Parsons to the visitor’s Mitch Brundle.

This was for his over the top tackle on Brown, which saw the midfielder helped off the pitch and then carried on a stretcher to the dressing room. The club will learn the extent of the injury early next week. He has proved to be a great addition to the squad since his return, so Town fans will hope he is back sooner than later.

Louie Soares came off the subs bench to replace him and in a scrappy end to the half, the best chance fell to the home side.

Vine played in Harper and he should have done better with his shot as he failed to hit the target.

Town took five minutes of the second-half to take the lead.

The move was started by Vine and he played a nice one-two with Williams, before the ball was laid back to Tom Bird on the left wing.

He sent in a sweet cross which was met by the head of Chris Flood.

The home side nearly added a second soon after, but Williams’ strike went just the wrong side of the goal.

Town continued to look for a second goal as Flood fired just wide and then a nice cross in from Case was unable to find an end product.

Just after the hour, Town gave a debut to their other new signing in the week Reece Connolly and he looked a useful addition up front with Flood.

The visitor’s chances of getting anything out of the game suffered a major blow when Hemel striker Nikolay Todorov decided to lash out with his hand across the face of Tom Bird for no apparent reason.

The referee wasted no time in producing the red card from his pocket and dismissing the player on the 68 minute mark.

The 10 men were quickly punished, as three minutes later, Soares made it 2-0 as a corner came out to him and he returned it with interest from the edge of the area into the net.

A minute later, and Town so nearly scored a third as Williams’ cross saw the out stretched legs of Louis John slide the ball away just the wrong side of the post. In the process the Hemel man pulled his hamstring and limped off to the bench.

The home side then came even closer to adding a third goal to their tally.

Glen Southam’s shot saw a superb one handed save from Jamie Butler and then the rebound was driven goal wards by Soares, only for the goalkeeper to stop it with his legs on the line.

This time the ball rebounded to Williams and his shot was cleared off the line by a Hemel defender.

Town dominated the final minutes keeping the ball and passing it around and Butler was called upon to make one last great save to deny Flood.

Town are next in action on Saturday, when they travel to Havant and Waterlooville who are now bottom of the National League South, for what will be a real crunch game.

Town: Howe, Case, Bird, Harper, Deaman, Gasson, Brown (sub Soares 29mins), Southam, Vine (sub Connolly 63 mins), Flood, Williams (sub Smart 83 mins). Subs (not used) McAuley, Macklin.