Town dream is over

ERNIE Howe shook his head in disappointment to acknowledge "the dream of making the play-offs is dead" after Bishop's Stortford ended any slim hopes Basingstoke Town had of a top-five finish.

The Town manager felt a lack of decisive defending on Saturday contributed to the loss, but he was more saddened by the repercussions.

Town went 2-0 down after 20 minutes and, although Martin Whiddett's goal just before the interval gave hope of a recovery, further poor defending at the start of the second half enabled Bishop's Stortford to restore their two-goal lead.

A late own goal made for an exciting finale, but there was no equaliser and the Camrose faithful, along with the players and management, were left to wonder what might have been in a league season that promised so much.

Howe admitted his overall view of the campaign to be "one of missed opportunities," and that the club shouldn't have "been in the position of depending on other results going our way to make the play-offs".

He added: "It has been a good season but we are all very disappointed. We wanted to be in the play-offs.

"I knew after we lost last week at Sutton that was probably it, but losing today means the dream is over.

"No-one gave us a chance this season, but we've been up there pretty much the whole season. If it hadn't been for that six-game losing streak after Christmas, we'd have done it.

"Just a couple of wins in that period would have made all the difference."

Howe said he felt the team played well against Stortford but acknowledged the short-comings at the back as the reason why Town lost.

"We have got defensive frailties, and it has cost us this season on other occasions," he said. "There are situations players should be dealing with but aren't because of the wrong mentality.

"You need to defend first and get the ball away from dangerous areas, not try and be clever with it.

"We have players who can create but we also have those who don't defend too well and that is something we will address this summer."

On Saturday, the visitors went ahead on nine minutes when a deep cross from the right flank into the far post was missed by Jason Bristow and attacker Steve Morison.

But full-back Brett Cooper was totally oblivious to the presence of winger Boniek Forbes and, when he turned to see him collect, it was too late. On the byline, Forbes cut back and midfielder Steve Parmenter arrived to score from close range.

Town went further behind on 20 minutes, thanks to a comedy of errors.

Mark Paterson's back-pass bobbled up for goalkeeper Liam Castle and his high kick was met by Dean Cracknell, who beat German De La Vega to a header forward.

However, both Paterson and Bristow went for the same ball and neither headed it away.

It broke nicely for striker Paul Hakim, who lobbed over Neville Stamp and ran forward before unleashing a pile-driver from 20 yards on the half-volley that flew into the net.

Howe said: "The player was definitely coming back from an offside position, but we waited for a flag that never came. I felt the officials were poor."

On 43 minutes, Town got back in it through Whiddett, who scrambled home with a typical poacher's goal after Neville Roach's cross had been touched on by Cristian Levis' deft back-heel.

Levis then fired over after a great 40-metre run and pass from the impressive De La Vega put his compatriot in as Town tried to go in level at half-time, only to shot themselves in the foot on 49 minutes.

As he got back in position from making an earlier tackle, Paterson's weak clearance - straight to Morison on the edge of the box - saw the quality forward control and hit a shot with the outside of his right boot that sailed into the top right corner.

Howe brought on Uwa Ogbodo, and the Nigerian had a positive impact on proceedings, forcing Andrew Young into a full-length low save to tip a drive away.

Town got their second when Sergio Torres' beautiful low cross in from the right left full-back Lekeladio Tuanda, under pressure from Roach's presence, helpless as he turned the ball into the net.

In injury time, Town enjoyed territorial advantage and a fine run and pass from Ogbodo to Adam Wallace saw the sub's shot narrowly deflected wide.

From the second corner, delivered to the far post, Levis worked wonders to get the ball from under his feet, evade two defenders and shoot - only to see Young's fingertips push the ball over.

Basingstoke Town: Scott Tarr, Brett Cooper (sub Uwa Ogbodo 61min), Neville Stamp, Jason Bristow, Mark Paterson, David Ray, Cristian Levis, Sergio Torres, Martin Whiddett (sub Adam Wallace 78min), Neville Roach, German De La Vega. Subs (not used): Nathan Stamp, Scott Tarr, Ricky Allaway.