Basingstoke held on for a 2-1 victory away at Uxbridge in a nervy finish against the 10-man hosts, despite having been in control for much of the game, thanks to two goals from young forward Ezio Touray.

Touray had already put the ball in the net early in an even first half, only for the offside flag to cut his celebrations short and James Clark and George Reid both drew saves from Tyler Tobin.

Basingstoke keeper Mark Scott also had to be equal to a pair of efforts from Mark Bitmead.

Basingstoke broke through on 33 minutes after George Reid was felled by Maurice Nugent, the defender collecting a yellow card for his challenge.

Touray stepped up and crashed the free kick in off the bar from just outside the box.

As the game became fractious and tempers frayed towards the end of the half, Billy Upton went inches away from a second goal for the visitors as his looping header from another free kick kissed the underside of the bar and then the post before being scrambled clear.

Barely a minute of the second half had passed when Reid controlled a long diagonal ball and left Nugent for dead and the as the left back grabbed at the winger to pull him back, the whistle blew and Nugent received his second yellow card.

The punishment was doubled from the resulting free kick as Touray pounced upon the rebound from Scott Armsworth’s header to bury the ball from close range.

Reid himself spurned two chances from the edge of the box but as Uxbridge introduced Gareth Chendlik from the bench, they began to create some pressure of their own as the substitute glanced a header against the post.

Shamar Moore and Touray both had good opportunities saved and with 12 minutes to go Bitmead converted a low cross to reduce the Basingstoke lead to a single goal. Uxbridge bombarded the Basingstoke box but Mark Scott made fabulous saves to deny Bitmead, Joe Jackson and Scott Donnelly to preserve the points for his side.