Bashley boss Geoff Butler reckons Dave Wakefield has been a revelation since senior players Graeme Gee and Mat Jones left the Recreation ground.

By his own high standards, the former Havant and Newport IOW winger/midfielder had a poor first half of the season but, according to Butler, he is thriving on the responsibility of being one of only a handful of senior players left at the New Forest club.

Wakefield, right, scored both goals in Tuesday's unexpected 2-0 home win over play-off chasers Tooting & Mitcham - a night when an amazing 11 of Bashley's 16-strong squad were mere teenagers, most of them with little or no senior experience.

"It's no disrespect to Graeme or Mat, but Dave Wakefield has blossomed since they left," said Butler. "We've also lost Danny Gibbons and Andy Culliford injured and, all of a sudden, Dave's taken on extra responsibility and got better and better."

Although many Bash fans feared the loss of Gee, Jones and Richard Gillespie would spark a late-season collapse, the opposite has happened. In their last two home games, they have taken maximum points from Whyteleafe and Tooting - two of the league's form sides.

"It's amazing really," smiled Butler. "We had five senior players on Tuesday - Chris Ferrett, Wakefield, Matt Parnell, Paul Gazzard and David Elm, none of whom is over 30, and the other 11 were all aged between 16 and 19.

"Four of the youngsters - Darren Head, 'Mo' (Mamadouba Toure), Mika Dronyk and Andy Hough played the full 90 minutes and yet they wouldn't even have been considered squad players before. I can't praise the senior players enough for the way they've responded. They could have gone one of two ways with all these youngsters coming in, thinking either 'we're baby-sitting, what on earth's going on?' or 'let's help these kids out' - and I have to say they've been superb."

Whether Bash can pull off another miracle at Dulwich Hamlet tomorrow remains to be seen but Butler can't fault them for effort.

"The youngsters are playing with so much enthusiasm," he said. "They listen, do as they're told and don't know how to cheat."