Basingstoke Town triumph in league and cup

Against Tooting and Mitcham, Basingstoke Town’s young winger Brody Peart scored his first-ever goals for the club.

The 17-year-old struck twice in the first half hour as Basingstoke dominated the opening exchanges, despite Eddie Mbango also finding the net for the away side against the run of play.

Tooting’s goalkeeper James Shaw made a miraculous point-blank save from Sam Argent early in the second half, but Basingstoke seemingly secured all three points as Wilson made it 3-1, finishing a swift counter-attack by poking Stefan Brown’s cross past Shaw.

Brody Peart scoring his first goal for the club. Pic by Steve Gridley (Image: Steve Gridley)

Jordan Clarke bent a free kick into the bottom corner to bring Tooting and Mitcham back to within a single goal but as stoppage time ticked into eight minutes, Wilson was tripped by Shaw and James Clark impeccably converted the resulting penalty to round the afternoon off.

Dan Brownlie fielded a young side for the visit of Whitchurch United in the cup quarter-final and saw his charges surge into a 3-0 lead before holding off a late onslaught for a 3-2 win.

Academy players Joel Halliday and Ethan Abrehart were named in the starting lineup and Jake Impiazzi, Liam Vaux, and Jasper Rowland all made appearances from the bench.

Sam Argent opened the scoring on the half-hour, finishing following a scramble in the box.

Brad Wilson curled a finish into the top corner to double the lead before the break and made it 3-0 soon after the restart as he finished from Ben Mason’s low cross but Brett Denham immediately pulled one back for the visitors.

Abrehart went close to restoring the three-goal lead but with 12 minutes left, a second Whitchurch goal cut the gap to one. Wilson was foiled in his attempt to complete a hat-trick with a late free kick but the result was secured as Dan Morrissey’s long-range effort dipped just over Halliday’s crossbar.