Dr Martens League

STUART Cooper's shining full debut was tarnished by a late Wade Falana goal which cruelly deprived Bashley of a point in a 2-1 Eastern Division defeat at Tonbridge.

Cooper, who turns 19 next month, has just signed a contract for the Foresters and the youngster proved a real handful for the Angels who had both Gene Clout and Nick Humphrey booked for fouls as they tried to contain him.

The teenage tearaway had earlier turned Clout inside out before burning keeper Joe Radford's fingers with a fierce shot and, inevitably it was Cooper who put Bashley ahead on 40 minutes, planting a firm header into the top left-hand corner from a Phil Andrews cross.

The game had produced chances at either end but it was Bashley who finished the half the stronger with another young gem, Craig Davis, sending a 20-yard shot just inches over the crossbar.

Graeme Gee twice went close for Bash early in the second half before Peter Mortley headed Tonbridge's 57th-minute equaliser.

Cooper remained in the thick of things as Bash sought to press home their territorial advantage, but disaster struck three minutes from time when substitute Falana netted an unstoppable shot from the narrowest of angles to plunge the Foresters down to 13th place.

Saturday-morning rain on the Isle of Wight justified Newport's decision to switch their Eastern Division fixture to Histon - but little else went right for the Islanders in a costly 3-1 defeat in which midfielder Adam Holbrook was sent off.

Former Pompey man Holbrook had scored a 20th-minute leveller for Newport after they had fallen behind to a seventh-minute Neil Kennedy strike, but two goals in five second-half minutes by David Toombs and Adrian Cambridge gave the Cambridgeshire hosts a deserved win.

"Histon were the better side and their front pair of Kennedy and Cambridge were outstanding," conceded Newport boss Tony Mount. "The pitch was poor, but they acclimatised much better than we did. We badly missed suspended defender John Price."

Holbrook's dismissal eight minutes from time was the final straw for the frustrated Mount. "He went up for a header, the bloke collapsed as if he'd been hit by an iron bar and Adam was sent off for leading with his arm," he said. "It was riduculous because there was nothing malicious about it. It was the sort of challenge footballers make every day of the week.

Havant & Waterlooville deserved more than a 3-2 defeat from their first ever visit to Stafford Rangers in the Premier Division.

The Hawks were unsettled after only 49 seconds when a Chris Brindley free-kick was headed past his own keeper by skipper Gary MacDonald, but it took H&W just 15 minutes to level when Dean Blake and David Leworthy set up the in-form Paul Wood to fire home from eight yards.

Stafford regained the lead on 31 minutes when co-manager Liam Daish brought down Paul Kiely 30-yards out and the Rangers forward fired an unstoppable free-kick into the top corner.

With seven minutes remaining Stafford increased their lead through substitute Scott Dundas's flicked header from a corner, but three minutes later Havant pulled one back when substitute James Taylor headed the ball back for Dave Leworthy to score from close range.

In the final minute Wood had an excellent chance to gain a deserved equaliser but stubborn Stafford produced two goalline blockages to send the Hawks home empty-handed and drop them to 15th.