Basingstoke 23 pts v Bishop's Stortford 26 pts, Oct 20th 2007
Report by courtesy of Basingstoke Gazette.

Having led comfortably at half time Stoke suffered their second home loss in a row in yet another game that they should of won. Both sides gave away a lot of turnover ball in crucial areas but it was poor tackling as well as poor decision making that cost Stoke victory. Stoke could not of got off to a better start with the visitors dropping the kick off and then being off-side at the ensuing ruck for Cooper to gain the 3 points from the 22. On 5 minutes the visitors got a turnover and kicked up field. Their supporting player hacked on and good defencive covering from Lewis meant he got to the ball first but had his clearing kick charged down and was then adjudged to of held back the Stortford player and a penalty try awarded. For the next 20 minutes it was all Stoke with the visitors pinned in their own half during which the home side scored 2 tries, could of scored two more and missed a penalty and conversion. Having missed a penalty on 11 minutes Stoke got the score board moving with a try on 13 minutes. Buttle, who was deservedly man of the match, was the provider with a 40 metre break, and found Lewis inside the visitors 22 with a switch for him to make amends for earlier. Having been held up on the Stortford line Buttle was again the provider for Stokes next try on 20 minutes with a lovely stepping break before off loading to the reliant Appleby to finish off. Cooper converted and a healthy 15- 7 lead. On 25 minutes the visitors had their first period of pressure in the Stoke 22. At a ruck 3 metres out Thomas was penalised for killing the ball and with it being in the red zone was shown a yellow card. With a man advantage Stortford ran the ball more freely without creating clear cut openings but a terrific tackle by Barton stopped one threatening move.

Leading 15-7 at half time Stoke hit the self destruct button and within 12 minutes of the re-start found themselves 21-15 down. Both of the visitors tries came from poor tackling within Stokes' 22, the first on 46 and the second on 52 minutes, and the extras added both times. Stoke then re-grouped and when the visitors were penalised for a high tackle Cooper slotted the 3 points to reduce the deficit to 21-18. Continued home pressure was not rewarded with points until the 71st minute. Buttle fielded a clearance kick just inside the visitors half on the right hand side and went on one of his scampering runs. Eluding tackles and not needing support players he ended up scoring wide out on the left touch line to put Stoke back in the lead 23-21. With time running out it was the visitors that struck the vital blow in added time on 83 minutes and again missed tackles were to blame. Stortford's number 10 did a dummy switch and scythed through the middle to draw the full back and off load to his support who juggled the ball before gathering and score in the corner and gain a 26-23 lead. Still Stoke tried to come back but errors and turn overs cost them any chance of a score. In a game where Stoke started off so well and winning good ball and looking comfortable it was again the inability to keep concentration for the full 80 minutes that let them down. Buttle had an excellent game where he touched the ball 4 times, scored once, created 2 and got held on the line once. The set pieces started well but deteriorated in the second half and quality ball dried up.

After Gareth Lewis added "We made wrong decisions in the wrong areas of the pitch. We can't run a tap penalty 10 metres from our line or take a quick line out 15 metres from our own line. We need to think where we are on the field and how best to take advantage of every situation."

Team: Barton, Lewis, Richards, Thomas, Buttle, Jones(Trendell), Lillywhite, Young, Hawea(Folan), Oliver, Scott, Cooper, Stirling, Appleby, Northcote(Rob)(Williams).