BASINGSTOKE Town’s four game winning run came to an end in dramatic fashion, as they were beaten 6-1 by visiting Weymouth at the Ark Cancer Charity Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The result at first glance was a shocking one and the Dorset side certainly took their chances deserving to win, but not by such a big margin.

The home side starting XI picked itself, after David Ray and Ashleigh Artwell failed to recover from injures, while Matt Partridge was still suspended and illness ruled out Mark Hastings.

This meant the young Dragons were without any of their experienced players and midfielder Charlie Kennedy was forced to play in the centre of defence.

Despite this, Town started the better and had the early shots on goal which Tom McHale was able to deal with.

The visitors then struck out of the blue, as Stuart Fleetwood continued his recent goal scoring streak. He netted after 26 minutes, as he somehow beat Alex Tokarczyk in the home net with his shot.

Before the home side could regroup, Weymouth scored again, from a nicely struck free-kick from the edge of the area from Charlie Davis.

Soon after, Aaron Redford forced the visiting goalkeeper into a good save, but on 38 minutes the Dragons were left with a mountain to climb as they went 3-0 down.

This was from Davis’ penalty, which came about after Tokarczyk brought down sub Mark Molesley by the byline.

It remained 3-0 as the sides headed for the dressing rooms at half-time The second half was only 20 seconds old when Aaron Jarvis managed to break through between Stephane Zubar and Toby Down and McHale was forced to make an excellent one handed save to deny the striker.

However, Town did not have to wait long for their opening goal as Michael Atkinson released, skipper on the day, Marcus Johnson-Schuster down the right and his cross from the byline was volleyed in by Redford.

The goal made Weymouth really nervous and Town certainly looked back in the game.

This was to end just after the hour mark, when from a corner, Dean Evans’ shot looked to have been cleared off the line by Sam Deadfield, but the assistant referee gave it. The Town players protested, but the goal stood.

Then three minutes later, Fleetwood struck again as he saw Tokarczyk off his line and lobbed the home goalie.

After this the home side introduced Academy players Maurice Black and Will Shaw, but it was that man Fleetwood who scored again nine minutes from time with a shot which went in just off the post for his hat-trick.

To be fair Town battled until the final whistle, but it was just not their day.

Town boss Terry Brown felt the same way and said: “It was square pegs in round holes today and that is what I have told the boys. They have given me everything today, so I can’t ask for more, it was just a bad day at the office.

“Weymouth may have beaten us 9-1 on aggregate over the two games, but I still think we can aim to finish above them.”

He added: “We will have Razor (David Ray) and Matt Partridge back for our next game, who are our two most experienced players which will make us a different team.”

The loss toWeymouth, saw the Dragons slip to 16th in the table, but they are still 15 points clear of the drop zone.

Next up for the team is an away trip to lowly St Neots on Saturday.