Havant 5, Basingstoke Town 1

THE shattering effects of two difficult away fixtures within 48 hours was the reason behind Town's heaviest defeat in three months as manager Ernie Howe saw his side swept aside on the South Coast.

After the rigours of Saturday's hard-fought 0-0 draw at Lewes, on what Howe called "a pudding of a pitch", Town's weary troops had to don their boots again on Monday evening.

They got off to a great start when Neville Roach continued his rich goal-scoring form by netting his 12th of the season, after just two minutes.

Roach latched onto an incisive pass from Cristian Levis, took it in his stride and expertly fired home.

But that was as good as it got for Town, who had little in the tank for the remainder of the game.

Their passing got increasingly sloppy and they conceded two goals to an increasingly buoyant Havant to end the first half 2-1 down.

Howe told his team during the interval that they would be slaughtered unless things changed, and that the next goal was crucial.

So Levis was moved up front in a 4-3-3 formation and Town came close on a few occasions to grabbing an equaliser.

But Havant survived and started to dominate again before nicking the all-important third goal after seizing a poor attempted cross-field ball from Nathan Stamp.

Town then conceded another two within seven second-half minutes in a nervous spell of defending.

Town assistant boss Pete Peters said: "Jason Bristow had taken a knock at that stage and was labouring a bit, but we just panicked and became anxious. We couldn't keep the ball.

"We got off to the best start but were unable to respond once they went ahead and just looked very leggy and tired. They got on a roll and pounded us and we couldn't respond.

"I'm not making excuses, but Saturday's game was very hard and we had to do a lot of defending and running on a muddy pitch. I think it did take its toll on our players."

Town: Scott Tarr, Brett Cooper, Neville Stamp, Jason Bristow (Liam Parrington), Scott Smith, David Ray, Jamie McClurg, Sergio Torres, Cristian Levis, Neville Roach, Nathan Stamp. Not used: Ryan Stephens, Toby Sumner, Mark Zawadski, Jamie Roach.