Town's defence praised by boss

From the archive, first published Thursday 16th Feb 2006.

Basingstoke Bison 2, Nottingham Panthers 3

THREE unanswered goals in the second period proved decisive on Saturday night as a spirited fightback by the Bison just fell short in a narrow defeat by the visiting Nottingham Panthers.

The home side started the final period looking out of the contest, only to score twice in the opening two minutes to put themselves right back into contention.

Brad Cruikshank was first to find the net, just 31 seconds after the restart as he slotted home a Jim Shepherd rebound from close range.

Basingstoke Town 1, Bishop's Stortford 1

ERNIE Howe praised the defensive performance of Mark Paterson and goalkeeper Stuart Searle to help ensure his Town side weathered a late rally and extended their unbeaten sequence to three league games.

Although the Town boss was hoping for all three points as he targets the wins and points required to secure Nationwide South survival as soon as possible, he said: "On reflection, I have to be happy with the point.

"We were pretty even up until the last 10 to 15 minutes, but then we became indecisive and let them get at us a bit.

"Danny Brown had a great game last week at Sutton, but I felt he was going to possibly give a goal away, as he wasn't winning headers and was giving the ball away. That's why I took him off.

"But we haven't conceded a late winner and I thought Pato was excellent today. Our midfield players were also instrumental in our good play."

He added: "We have 33 points and the sooner we are up near the 45 region, the better.

"No, we are not in a dog-fight at the bottom, but it is tight and a few bad results can drag you into one, so we are in need of a few wins to make us safe."

In Saturday's match at the Camrose, the game exploded into life after two goals in quick succession and it was Stortford who took the lead, on 21 minutes.

A high-ball down the centre wasn't dealt with by Brown and, after the covering Paterson had committed himself to a clearance, which unfortunately broke backwards, Steve Morison took advantage. He collected to enjoy a clear run on goal, firing into the bottom corner past Searle.

But Town hit back straight away, scoring on 23 minutes, when Lewis Cook had two bites at the cherry. Following David Ray's centre and his initial effort getting blocked by Ryan Maxwell, Cook netted with a crisp left-foot strike.

On 30 minutes, Searle clawed Jack Midson's header from out of the top corner to preserve level terms, which he did again in the second half on 74 minutes, foiling sub Jason Mason's shot with his feet after a flowing Stortford move and lay-off from Morison found Mason unmarked 14 yards out.

Town's new signing, Argentinian Pablo Pedrotti had already been introduced at this point and he looked useful in his 26-minute debut.

But there was no real goal threat from Town, as they moved to a 4-3-3 formation following Brown's substitution, and it was Stortford who finished the stronger, but to no avail thanks to Paterson's and a reshuffled defence.

Town: Stuart Searle, Lee Molyneaux, Wayne Heath, Danny Brown (Sacha Funes 77 mins), Mark Paterson, David Ray, Ben Surey, Justyn McKay, Ricci Dolan (Pablo Pedrotti 64 mins), James Taylor, Lewis Cook. Not used: Neville Stamp, Andrew Smallpiece, Scott Smith.

First published: Monday, February 13, 2006

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