Kingstonian 2, Basingstoke Town 0

BASINGSTOKE Town face a difficult must-win home game against high-flying Sutton United next Saturday after going down 2-0 at Kingstonian.

Town knew that a win would almost certainly have guaranteed them the final qualification place for the new Conference South League.

The only silver lining on Saturday was that Maidenhead, town's rivals for 13th position, also lost.

This means that if Town can defeat Sutton - who are gunning for the runners-up position in the Ryman Premier League - next weekend, then the Conference South place will be secured.

However, defeat at The Camrose could open the door to Maidenhead, who face bottom side Aylesbury.

Town boss Ernie Howe said: "It is very frustrating as a win would have meant we could have relaxed on Saturday. Now, it is a cup final for us."

Talking about Saturday's game, in which the home side scored twice in the second-half to secure the win, Howe said: "I felt we had the better of the first half, but we were unable to get the important first goal.

"We seem to get a little run going of a couple of wins, and then just can't seem to get over that next little hurdle."

Basingstoke showed their attacking intent as early as the first minute when a poorly-cleared defensive ball was hammered back goalward by Neville Stamp and the ball flew just wide of Lance Key's left post.

In the first 45 minutes, Basingstoke more than controlled the game and limited the Kingstonian forwards to only a few chances.

Town's Stephen Hughes was unlucky on 15 minutes with a 22-yard strike, and that was followed by another near miss by Cristian Levis, who headed over Neville Stamp's corner by a matter of inches.

The home side then wasted two good chances.

A Grant Payne effort was ruled out for offside and Bashiru Alimi fired over a golden chance from 12 yards out after an excellent solo run from Dave Timothy.

The last moments of the first-half saw Craig McAllister fall in the area from a push from his marker. However, the referee turned down the visitors' appeals, much to the annoyance of Town's large vocal travelling support.

After the break, Levis fired over the bar and Sergio Torres went just wide, before the home side took the game by the horns.

The substitution of Kingstonian skipper Scott Steele for Mark Beard proved inspirational as the opening goal of the game came after 61 minutes. Alimi fired home from 10 yards after a corner from the left was not cleared.

Kingstonian missed a golden opportunity to double their lead on 67 minutes, when a ball over the top of the Basingstoke defence found Payne and he outpaced Ricky Allaway. The striker should have scored when through one-on-one with Zawadski, but, amazingly, he sliced his shot wide of the right-hand post.

Town, to their credit, battled away and on 71 minutes were almost rewarded with an equaliser as a Nathan Stamp corner from the right was headed towards the goal by Levis from eight yards out, but goalkeeper Key collected.

With time running out, defender Allaway was replaced by striker Neville Roach and Town switched the formation to 4-3-3, but, unfortunately, it did not do the trick.

It was a defensive mistake by Neville Stamp that cost Town the second goal in the 87th minute as the left back played a very poor back pass to Zawadski. The goalkeeper was forced to chest the ball and Martyn Williams nipped in and slotted home.

Basingstoke Town: Mark Zawadski, Nathan Stamp, Neville Stamp, David Ray, Jason Bristow, Ricky Allaway (sub Neville Roach 74min), Sergio Torres, Stephen Hughes (sub Alex Ewin 66min), Craig McAllister, Cristian Levis, German De La Vega. Subs (not used): Steve Hemmings, Michael Watkins, Ian Dickens.