Basingstoke boss Ernie Howe had to rely on his reserve team talent to avoid a potential banana skin at Cove last night in the second round of the Hampshire Senior Cup.
It needed strikes from second-string players Lee Chudy and Adie Green to secure last season's finalists a 3-1 extra-time victory over the battling Combined Counties League underdogs.
In normal time Steve Harris headed home a 29th minute free-kick by Mark Lisk only for Scott Waddington to level for Cove soon after half-time.
North Hampshire rivals and cup holders Aldershot needed second-half goals from Gary Abbott - his 11th of the season - and Nicky Bell to see off the brave challenge of Jewson Wessex League Whitchurch at the Recreation Ground.
In-form Ryman Premier Division rivals Farnborough Town booked their third-round ticket with efforts from Steve Darlington, Bruno Mendosa and Michael Warner giving them a 3-0 success over Bournemouth Poppies - their fourth win on the bounce.
Tony Mount wasn't impressed with his Newport side's 3-0 victory over Island rivals Brading at St George's Park. "Full credit to Brading for battling really hard but I wasn't happy with the performances of some of our players."
Ashkan Karimzadeh opened the scoring on 30 minutes with a fine individual goal as he skipped past three defenders before firing home. Tony White added a second five minutes later and Clifton Soares sealed matters on the hour.
In the Dr Martens Eastern Division rock-bottom Fleet suffered their 12th league defeat in 13 starts when they went down 1-0 to Erith in front of 32 fans at Calthorpe Park - Apps scoring the only goal after 41 minutes.
Eastleigh move into the second round of the Russell Cotes Cup after pipping JWL rivals Moneyfields 5-4 on penalties last night - the match had finished goalless after extra-time.
Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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